‘All right. God’s blessed us.’
‘Yes. He has.’ The tears came then, of relief and joy mingled. She wiped them on her sleeve. ‘I’m so glad you’re alive.’
Idres laughed. ‘So am I,’ he said, ‘and I feel the same about you. Here, let’s go downstairs. I want to claim both of you in front of witnesses. That is, if you like the idea of being a general’s wife. That’s what I am now, the general in charge of Jezro Khan’s cavalry.’
‘You want to marry me?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘Of course?’ For a moment she felt close to fainting. ‘But I’ve been a palace girl.’
‘That doesn’t matter.’
‘Idres, other people will make it matter. There’ll be all sorts of gossip about your scandalous wife.’
‘So? They can hardly blackmail you, can they? I already know the truth. And it won’t matter because it doesn’t matter to me. Now let’s go hunt up Indan. He can draw up the papers.’ He paused, studying her face. ‘You do want to marry me, don’t you?’
‘More than anything in the world, yes. Did you think I was looking for an excuse not to?’
‘Just that.’ He smiled, then let the smile fade. ‘I’m not sure of anything, any more, not after the things I’ve seen. I’ve got a lot to tell you, Bavva, and some of it is the strangest damn stuff you can imagine.’
The baby woke, yawned, stretching out a tiny fist, then fell back asleep.
‘You must have a maidservant,’ Idres said. ‘Call her to take the baby, and we’ll go downstairs. Everyone needs to hear the best news of all. The ChaMeech are converting to the one true faith. One of their leaders – and she’s a female, believe it or not – but anyway, she’s decided to preach to her people.’
Before she could stop herself, Lubahva laughed aloud, a hysterical sort of giggle, quickly stifled. So that’s the Fourth Prophet we’ve been hoping for! A female, all right, but not one of ours. She realized that Idres was studying her face in some concern.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘I’m all to pieces now. I’m just so glad you’re safe.’
‘I feel the same about you,’ Idres said, smiling. ‘Now call that servant. I’m hungry, and I want to sit down.’
Through her contact with the orbiting ships, Sibyl could record and display the new Great Khan’s triumphal entry into Haz Kazrak. Loy and Arkazo sat on the floor and watched somewhat blurry images of crowds lining the streets to cheer the weary army as it marched towards the palace hill. Jezro himself rode at the head of the procession. He was dressed in beautiful clothing of red and white; his black horse had been curried to a high sheen; his saddle and bridle dripped with silver and jewels. He carried a long lance, held upright as if it were the staff of a pennant or flag, but the thing on the end of it was not made of cloth.
‘Merde!’ Loy said. ‘That’s a severed head.’
‘Gemet’s, yes,’ Arkazo said, grinning. ‘It’s the custom.’
‘How lovely for you all.’
He laughed, leaning forward to study the hologram. ‘There he is!’ He sounded vastly relieved. ‘My uncle. Thanks be to God that he’s safe!’
That night Loy walked in the green garden of N’Dosha. The galaxy hung directly overhead, millions of silver lights against the dark, shining upon worlds she would never see. And yet, she thought, we have a world here, and I’ve only begun to understand it. All at once she smiled.
‘It’s true,’ she said aloud. ‘We have a whole world here. And it’s just damn well going to have to do.’
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to: Brian Carnright, who keyboarded the first draft from a typescript; Mark Kreighbaum, who saved Jezro Khan’s life; and especially, Alis Rasmussen and Amanda Weinstein, who know how to reassure a despairing author.
About the Author
Snare
Katharine Kerr was born in Ohio in 1944 and now lives in San Francisco. Her extensive reading in the fields of classical archaeology and medieval and Dark Ages history and literature has had a clear influence on her work. Her novels, including the epic Deverry series, have been published around the world and she is a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
By Katharine Kerr
The Deverry Series
DAGGERSPELL
DARKSPELL
DAWNSPELL
DRAGONSPELL
A TIME OF EXILE
A TIME OF OMENS
A TIME OF WAR
A TIME OF JUSTICE
THE RED WYVERN
THE BLACK RAVEN
THE FIRE DRAGON
Other Fiction
POLAR CITY BLUES
FREEZEFRAMES
SNARE
With Mark Kreighbaum
PALACE
Copyright
Voyager
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.voyager-books.com
This paperback edition 2004
First published in Great Britain by Voyager 2003
Copyright © Katharine Kerr 2003
The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © MAY 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-38722-9
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com
Katharine Kerr, Snare
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends