e dragonglass pulsed against her wrist, w

said. "I think I am owed an ex

oo loud. For a long moment she only looked at her daughter, and Elara saw the stru

to me," I

N

la

a stone in my hand and talked about fire, and you looked at me as though I had become so

n the room dimmed for an instant, as though a c

d at last. "A piece of the old

the t

lass, the grey hills were barely visible in the dark. "Your grandmother used to tell me that the city was

mark on m

turn around. "I

t a burn. I have

and fell. "It is a sign of the Sunward line. Our blood has always carried i

d came from under the throne, and the mark

rt of what

say th

face was so pale that Elara tho

y n

omised someon

ho

Elara's chest ache. "And my own mother, long before him. Some promises ar

d brighter, then steadied, its silver line gle

the letters. Lock it. Fo

my name was thrown across the Hall of Vows only two days ago,

, and she saw it hit. Isold

speak again, the window gl

braziers in the corridor sputtered. Elara heard a guard shout somewhere below, and then another voice, sharper,

inward. It crept across the pane like a spider's web, grey at its

ara said. "W

listening," she whispered. "The shard wa

or bur

. Heat rolled off him in visible waves, and the air around him shimmered. His amber eyes

out," he

ing anything

three strides and stopped inches from her. He did not touch her, though his

alace want me to hand over s

e it is

my hand, after a man you do not seem to know

low and tight. "I will deal with him. Giv

from me

her hand, and the instant his fingers closed around her wrist, the frost on the window exploded

mething out of her. Silver light poured from the shard into her skin, and Kael's grip tightened,

," she

can

making

ying to

rength against a dragon. But she could breathe. She had learned that as a girl in the Caldris mountains, when the

s a wound but as a thread, and she pulled it gently

The shard lay in her palm, still warm, its li

s breathing hard. Something in his expression had changed,

that,"

a said. "You were

ld not be

stop assuming you know wh

y, then went still. His hea

the rhythm before she saw the face: a man

oorway, his tone warm and concerned. "The wh

hard in her hand. Only a flicker. But Elara saw

d coldly. "Return to yo

g the lamplight. "I only wish to be useful. Do

back to Elara. His voice was l

yes. "I think y

l," she said, and her voice broke on his name. "S

a had never seen on him before. It was not anger

what she does

can

than the rest of us," Kael said, very quietly

her. The silver line in her palm fli

along the glass, and from its heart came a single, so

ght