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PROLOGUE

LARCH OFTEN THOUGHT that if it had not been for his newborn son, he never would have survived his wife Mikra’s death It was half that the infant boy needed a breathing, functioning father who got out of bed in the h the day; and it was half the child hiles and coos so musical, and his eyes deep brown like the eyes of his dead mother

Larch was a game warden on the riverside estate of a dom of Monsea When Larch returned to his quarters after a day in the saddle, he took the baby fro of sweat and horses, he cradled the boy against his chest, sat in his wife’s old rocker, and closed his eyes Sorimy face, but always quietly, so that he would not miss the sounds the child made The baby watched him The baby’s eyes soothed hi to have such focused eyes “It’s not soe eyes”

Larch couldn’t find it within hih for two Everyshe examined the baby’s eyes, as was the unspoken custo she breathed ed For the infant who fell asleep with both eyes the same color and ith eyes of two different colors was a Graceling; and in Monsea, as inbabies i Their faain

When the first anniversary of the birth of Larch’s son had coe to the boy’s brown eyes, the nurse She’d heard tales of Graceling eyes that tookor not, the child was not normal A year out of his mother’s womb and already Immiker could say his own name He spoke in simple sentences at fifteen months; he left his babyish pronunciation behind at a year and a half At the beginning of her tiain her a husband and a strong, healthy son Now she found the baby who conversed like a miniature adult while he drank at her breast, who s needed to be changed, positively creepy She resigned her post

Larch was happy to see the sour wo against his chest while he worked He refused to ride on cold or rainy days; he refused to gallop his horse He worked shorter hours and took breaks to feed Immiker, nap him, clean his messes The baby chattered constantly, asked for the names of plants and animals, made up nonsense poems that Larch strained to hear, for the poeh

“Birdies love treetops to whirl theh, for inside of their heads they are birds,” the boy sang absent his hand on his father’s arm Then, a minute later: “Father?”

“Yes, son?”

“You love the things that I love you to do, for inside of your head are my words”

Larch was utterly happy He couldn’t remember why his wife’s death had saddened him so He sa that it was better this way, he and the boy alone in the world He began to avoid the people of the estate, for their tiresome company bored him, and he didn’t see why they should deserve to share in the delight of his son’s company

Onewhen Immiker was three years old Larch opened his eyes to find his son lying awake beside hiray His left eye was red Larch shot up, terrified and heartbroken “They’ll take you,” he said to his son “They’ll take you away from me”

Immiker blinked calmly “They won’t, because you’ll come up with a plan to stop them”

To withhold a Graceling fro was royal theft, punishable by imprisonment and fines Larch could never pay, but still Larch was seized by a compulsion to do what the boy sa

id They would have to ride east, into the rocky border mountains where hardly anyone lived, and find a patch of stone or scrub that could serve as a hiding place As a game warden, Larch could track, hunt, build fires, and make a home for Immiker that no one would find

IMMIKER WAS REMARKABLY cal was Larch supposed the nursemaid had told hiotten he’d done so Larch was growing forgetful He sensed parts of hisup on hier open Larch attributed it to his age, for neither he nor his wife had been young when she’d died birthing their son

“I’ve wondered so,” Larch said as they rode the hills east, leaving the river and their old home behind

“It doesn’t,” Immiker said

“Of course it doesn’t,” Larch said, unable to fathoht, son, you’re young yet We’ll watch out for it We’ll hope it’s so useful”

Immiker didn’t respond Larch checked the straps that held the boy before hiolden head, and urged the horse onward

A GRACE WAS a particular skill far surpassing the capability of a nors had at least one Graceling in his kitchens, a superhus had soldiers in their arht have i, run as fast as a e sums mentally, even sense if food was poisoned There were useless Graces, too, like the ability to twist all the way around at the waist or eat rocks without sickening And there were eerie Graces Sos saw events before they happened Sos it was not their business to see The Nanderan king was said to own a Graceling who could tell if a person had ever co into his face

The Gracelings were tools of the kings, and no ht to be natural, and people who could avoid thedo

Larch had once shared this attitude Now he saw that it was cruel, unjust, and ignorant, for his son was a normal little boy who happened to be superior in ht turn out to be It was all the more reason for Larch to remove his son fro’s court, to be shunned and teased, and put to whatever use pleased the king

THEY WERE NOT long in the mountains before Larch accepted, bitterly, that it was an i place It wasn’t the cold that was the probleh autumn here was as raw as midwinter had been on the lord’s estate It wasn’t the terrain either, though the scrub was hard and sharp, and they slept on rock every night, and there was no place even to irain It was the predators Not a ent by that Larch didn’t have to defend against some attack Mountain lions, bears, wolves The enorht of a man Some of the creatures were territorial, all of them were vicious, and as winter closed in bleakly around Larch and I Their horse was lost one day to a pair of mountain lions

At night, inside the thorny shelter Larch had built of sticks and scrub, he would pull the boy into the warmth of his coat and listen for the howls, the tumbled stones down the slope, the screeches, that meant an animal had scented the boy into the carrier on his chest He would light as powerful a torch as he had the fuel for, go out of the shelter, and stand there, holding off the attack with fire and sword Soet a lot of sleep

He wasn’t eating much either

“You’llso much,” Iy wolf meat and water

Larch stopped chewing immediately, for sickness would make it harder to defend the boy He handed over the , son”

They ate quietly for a while, Iher into the mountains and crossed to the other side?” Immiker asked