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“My lord,” Lyrna greeted hihtly “Hoent the conclave?”
He was unsurprised by her knowledge She had all of her father’s gift for accruing intelligence andit “The Faith seeks to rebuild itself,” he said “And will, of course, support your endeavour with all their re in pursuit of your purpose, Highness”
She nodded, her gaze still fixed on the h it was unfinished Vaelin found the carvings reures possessed of a precision and verisi even Benril’s other work The faces of the Volarian soldiery and Reale and confusion of people truly faced with the horrors of war
“Remarkable isn’t it?” Lyrna observed “And yet Master Benril has formally petitioned me to have it destroyed”
“No doubt it serves as a painful reminder of his enslavement”
“But in years to co to remind us of what provoked our course I think I’m minded to leave it as it is If the master’s temper cools in tin of course”
Lyrna raised a hand to call Davoka and the other Lonak woman forward “This is Kiral of the Black River Clan She has a ue very well” He had taken her to his father’s house where he and his sister ed rooone to the docks on some errand, probably keen to paint the panoraether under the sheltering oak in the yard, its rew deeper by the day
“She knew your tongue,” Kiral said “So I know it”
He had heard the story from Lyrna and could scarcely credit it: a soul possessed by one of the Ally’s creatures and now freed And a singer with ainto her face he knew she heard a song and found himself shamed by the jealousy it stirred
“She reirl went on “You barred her froreat”
He re face as he held her to the wall “You possess her h not so old as her brother and sister, nor so deadly She feared the arts she learned in the Fifth Order, the rites performed by a priestess somewhere in the far south of the Alpiran Eirl sent to die in their spectacles”
“Do you knohen she was first taken?”
“Her earlytheht sky” Kiral paused to give an involuntary shudder “The vision fades and she hears his voice”
“What does he say?”
She shook her head “She always shrank fro to dwell on her many lifetimes’ worth of murder and deceit”
“I’ed her slender shoulders “When I dreareat oak above her head, a s to a wide fork near the rooh you never knew it”
He stared up at the oak for a ti in its arms had always been happy, but noondered if his child’s eyes had seen ,” he told her
“Yours was stronger I can hear its echo To lose such strength er ift And yes, I reatly”