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"Yes--at the cost of a third of your army What will happen when you try to seize what reain? Queen Maeve is watching you, I’m sure" He takes a deep breath "Adelina, you’re Queen of the Sealands now You’ve annexed Domacca and northern Taoal should be not to conquer more territories but to keep order in the territories you do have And you won’t achieve that by ordering your Inquisitors to drag unmarked civilians out into the streets and brand theiano hesitates for a longthe it as a reminder of what they’ve done to us To the iano replies This tiht sharpness to his tone His hand hovers near his side, where his childhood wound continues to plague hi the unmarked with your crest will not make them any more loyal to you"
"It iano says "Show theold bands in his braids clink "Let the people love you a little, mi Adelinetta"
My first reaction is bitterness Always love with this insufferable thief I ht of handing out gold to the people who once burned the iano does have a point
On io, my Rainmaker, rides on without comment The color of his skin looks pallid, and he seems like he still hasn’t fully recovered froo But other than his silence and the way he wraps his cloak around his shoulders even in this iano and say nothing He looks ahead too, but a smile plays at the corners of his lips He can tell that I’hts so well? It irritatesVioletta, for not confir my Inquisitors to force the un Searching for her
Why do you still want to find her? The whispers taunt ain And my answer is always the same Because I decide when she can leave Not her
But no , because they don’t believe me
We’ve reached the inner districts of Tarannen now, and although it looks deserted, Sergio’s eyes stay focused on the buildings surrounding the ents known as the Saccorists--taken from the Domaccan word for anarchy--have attacked our troops on several occasions It has left Sergio searching constantly for the hidden rebels
A tall archway leads into the raved with an elaborate chain of the moons and their various shapes, their waxes and wanes I pass under it with Sergio and Magiano, then pause before a sea of Duround in i to show my exhaustion
None of these Dumorians here are marked, of course The ones in chains are those with no s at all, the sort of people who used to throw rotten food at iano; they guide their stallions away fro the people
My Inquisitors spread out too Our captives shrink back at the sight of us all, their stares fixed hesitantly on me It is so quiet that if I closedalone in this square Still, I can feel the cloud of terror blanketing theainst ry snakes at scurrying e aze travels from the people up to the roofs of the square Even now, I find n of Enzo, crouched up there like he used to do The pull between us, the tether that binds him to me and me to him, tenses, as if from somewhere over the seas he knows that Dumor has fallen to my army Good I hope he senses my triumph
My attention turns back to the captives "People of Dus out across the square--"I aoes from one person to the next "You are all part of Kenettra and can consider yourselves Kenettran citizens Be proud, for you belong to a nation that will soon rule all others Our e with it Fro a marked person a malfetto is punishable by death Any abuse, harassment, ornot only your own execution, but the execution of your entire faods They are your masters and untouchable In return for your loyalty, each of you will receive a gift of five Duold Kenettran talents"
People iano glance at io jumps down from his horse and moves forith a sh the crowd, picking out a person here and there, then drag theio forces them all to kneel before me Fear washes over these chosen ones As well it should