THE

took it, and walked slowly around the base of the pyre, cool raindrops

dampening his face, his hair. He smelled of soft rain. Danat touched

flame to tinder as he went, the coal oil flaring and stinking.

The fire roared. Smoke rose through the falling rain, carrying the body

of Otah Machi with it. And pale petals of almond blossoms floated over

the crowd and the pyre, the palaces and the city, like the a

that spring had come at last.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Price of Spring is the fourth and final novel of the Long Price

Quartet by Daniel Abraham. The first three are A Shadow in Summer, A

Betrayal in 117inter, and An Autumn War. His short fiction has been

published in the anthologies Vanishing Acts, Bones of the World, The

Dark, and Logorrhea, and been included in Gardner Dozois's Year's Best

Science Fiction and The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror edited by Ellen

Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, as well. His story "Flat Diane"

won the International Horror Guild Award for best short story. His

novelette "The Cambist and Lord Iron" was short-listed for the Hugo and

World Fantasy awards. He is also the coauthor of Hunter's Run with

Gardner R. Dozois and George R. R. Martin. He lives in New Mexico with

his family.