The other lands

And the content? Oh, such dreams. Such morals! He would remake the world as if it were moist clay that he could mold in his hands. Throw out the quota. Sweep away the league. Unclench the Akaran fist and let all nations rise. Free and equal. Partners in the workings of the world. How could he ever think that such idealism could survive a minute in the brawl that was life? It was folly of the highest order. The fact that so many had followed him just served as further proof of that. Fools' folly.

The Snow King, the text called him. Cori

When Rhre

Rhre

"Mistress, lean forward please."

Cori

"Makes you wonder what?" Cori

Rhre

It took Cori

Rhre

Cori

"Yes, well… I came to tell you that King Grae has just arrived."

"Has he?"

"Surprise visit, apparently. He's asked to attend the banquet. Just as an observer, he says. He's content to stand to the side and watch."

"Why has he come?"

"He didn't say. To show off his freckles, perhaps, and the dimple in his chin." Rhre

Cori

"As you wish," Rhre

"There," Rhre

When Cori

Although what am I truly doing differently? the queen wondered, as she nodded and smiled and accepted the lips pressed to her hand. Again I walk through a maze of illusion, one of my own making. Perhaps some evening just like this one, some raving lunatic from the fringes will strike me down, just as befell my father. Much as befell Aliver. It's a fool's game, but what choice have I? Should I lock Aaden and myself up in the palace or in Calfa Ven? The latter was an appealing idea, but it would not do. Such a course was perhaps more dangerous anyway. No, she thought, better that I see where the snakes lie than that I find myself stepping on them. At least this way I can weed them out.

She moved through the gathered people with a cool detachment, guided by a bevy of maidens who flanked her as persistently as her Numrek guards. Unlike the taciturn guards-who, she noted, had grown more somber in recent weeks, almost as if they were displeased with their work-her maidens were all mirth. The court was a galaxy of many constellations. Cori

Her mind only really engaged when she felt a need to calculate, study, observe particular others to see what they might betray in unguarded moments. She sat in the chair prepared for her, a throne on a dais, a low table laden with food in front of her, a few chairs on either side for the chosen ones fortunate enough to spend some of the evening near her.

As a Vadayan priest mumbled at her ear, Cori

As if all of that were not enough, Cori