“Lord Balfre,” Hughe greeted him, his voice thin as watered wine. His squires had freed him from his helmet and thrust a folded tunic beneath his head. “Your joust, I think.”
With a look, Balfre scattered the squires who hovered to render their lord aid. Then he dropped to one knee, with care, and braced an aching forearm across his thigh.
“Hughe.”
Black Hughe was sweating, his face pale beneath the blood seeping from a split across the bridge of his nose. More blood trickled from one nostril, and from the corner of his mouth. He looked like a knifed hog.
“I’m not dying, Balfre,” Hughe said, slowly. “I bit my tongue. That’s all.”
“And to think, Hughe, if you’d bitten it the sooner you’d not be lying here now in a welter of your gore, unhorsed and roundly defeated,” he said kindly, and smiled.
Hughe coughed, then gasped in pain. “My lord—”
“Hughe, Hughe…” Leaning forward, Balfre patted Black Hughe’s bruised cheek. Mingled sweat and blood stained his fingers. He didn’t mind. They were his prize. “I’m going now. Without your horse and armour. I didn’t joust you for them.”
“My lord,” said Hughe, and swallowed painfully. “Thank you.”
“Not at all. And Hughe, for your sake, heed me now. Remember this moment. Engrave it on your heart. So the next time you think to slight my prowess with my lance? You think again–and stay silent.”
Hughe stared at him, struck dumb. Balfre smiled again, not kindly. Pushed to his feet, spurning assistance, gave Hughe his armoured back and walked away.
ALSO BY KATE ELLIOTT
Court of Fives
Black Wolves Trilogy
Black Wolves
The Spiritwalker Trilogy
Cold Magic
Cold Fire
Cold Steel
Crossroads
Spirit Gate
Shadow Gate
Traitors’ Gate
Crown of Stars
King’s Dragon
Prince of Dogs
The Burning Stone
Child of Flame
The Gathering Storm
In the Ruins
Crown of Stars
The Labyrinth Gate
Jaran
Jaran
An Earthly Crown
His Conquering Sword
The Law of Becoming
Writing with Melanie Rawn & Jennifer Roberson
The Golden Key
The Highroad Trilogy
A Passage of Stars
Revolution’s Shore
The Price of Ransom
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Part One Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Part Two: Forty-Four Years Later Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Part Three Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Acknowledgments
Extras
Meet the Author
A Preview of Promise of Blood
A Preview of The Falcon Throne
Also by Kate Elliott
Orbit Newsletter
Copyright
Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2015 by Katrina Elliott
Excerpt from Promise of Blood copyright © 2013 by Brian McClellan
Excerpt from The Falcon Throne copyright © 2014 by Karen Miller
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: November 2015
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ISBN 978-0-316-36870-4
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