Exile by Rowena Cory Daniells Read Free Book Online Page B

straight ahead.
    Without a word, Imoshen turned on her heel and walked away. The two men followed her, then the warriors, and lastly the servants with the lanterns.
    Charald laughed, calling after them, ‘That’s right, go home and load your wagons, sew your jewels into the hems of your winter coats. Prepare for exile, Wyrds. You have until dusk tomorrow to agree to my terms, then I send my barons to raze your estates!’
    As the causeway gate closed, the king rubbed his hands together and turned to his barons. ‘That’s put the wind up them. It’ll go back and forth for a bit, but they’ll be opening the gates and bending over before midwinter.’
    He strode down the causeway, with the barons falling into step around him. ‘Time to celebrate. Break open the wine.’
    Sorne held back while the True-men jostled for position next to the king.
    ‘You...’ Zabier was beside him; fury twisted his features. ‘You get all the glory. I’m the one who came up with how to avoid the Wyrds’ gifts. I’m the one who made the half-blood sacrifices. All you ever sacrificed was gift-infused relics. You sicken me!’
    Somehow, Sorne managed to restrain himself and leave.
    ‘Yes, walk off. It’s all you ever do. You left me to protect Ma and Valendia from King Matxin. You left again when Ma was dying. She called for you, right at the end, but you weren’t there!’
    Sorne ground his teeth. Back then, he’d been a fool, chasing glory and the respect of True-men. All it had gotten him was the empyrean wound and betrayal. It had taken him years to find out who he really was. Now he would not fail Valendia, and he would not fail his people.
     
     
    A S SOON AS they stepped through the causeway gate, Imoshen felt her legs go weak. Had Sorne betrayed them? She found it hard to believe, but if he hadn’t, he was playing a deep and dangerous game.
    The sisterhood leaders drew her to one side, but she was still aware of Hueryx and Paragian being swamped by brotherhood leaders demanding answers.
    ‘King Charald is a barbarian,’ Paragian said. ‘He has a pet half-blood who sacrifices T’En to True-man gods!’
    ‘Sacrifices T’En?’ Egrayne repeated horrified. She looked to Imoshen for confirmation.
    ‘...the king boasts he’s come back from the dead.’ Hueryx said, to his fellows. ‘That he sacrificed one of us just two days ago.’
    This incensed the men. Between their rising gifts and their furious exclamations, it was hard to think. This was what she’d feared; what would get them all killed.
    Imoshen pushed through the sisters to climb a mounting block below a street lamp. She beckoned Arodyti. ‘Give me your long-knife.’
    The sisterhood’s hand-of-force obliged. Imoshen struck the metal post. The high, clear note cut through the brotherhoods’ deep voices and they all turned to her. ‘The king is using the Warrior’s-voice and talk of sacrifices to unnerve us.’
    ‘Did your gift tell you this?’ All-father Kyredeon demanded.
    ‘I read a great deal of anger in the Mieren, cloaking their fear. In King Charald I read triumph and determination.’
    ‘Yes, but what does the king want?’ All-father Egrutz asked.
    She read the brotherhood leaders. With their gifts on edge they were angry, eager for violence and ready to shout her down. They would take the hard facts better from one of their own, which was why she’d asked Hueryx and Paragian to go with her. ‘What did King Charald want, All-father Hueryx?’
    ‘He didn’t want to negotiate, that was clear. He means to drive us out of the city, and out of Chalcedonia.’
    ‘We can hold the city. We can double the guard on the wall!’ a hand-of-force insisted and others agreed
    Imoshen caught Paragian’s eye. ‘What will King Charald do if we hold out against his army?’
    ‘He threatened to send his barons to break down our estate walls, kill every last T’En and Malaunje, and burn the buildings.’
    Everyone protested.
    ‘Hueryx,’ Imoshen raised her