Copyright
HarperVoyager
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Peter V. Brett 2018
Ward artwork designed by Lauren K. Cannon, copyright © Peter V. Brett
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover texture © Shutterstock.com
Peter V. Brett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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, down-loaded, 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.
Source ISBN: 9780008234126
Ebook Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008234133
Version: 2018-10-02
Dedication
For John Brett Jr. 197097 It gets easier, but it never gets easy.
Know Messengers are in short supply, Leesha. Rennas voice was unusually timid. But if you could spare one for Tibbets Brook
We sent one immediately after the attack, Leesha said.But Tibbets Brook is a long journey, even on warded horseshoes.
Renna grunted. Even on a straight round trip, it will be new moon again by the time you get an answer.
Again the dice clattered.
Inevera breathed. I see a village entire, dancing like puppets to a demons strings. I see brother killing sister, father killing son.
I see an empty cradle.
Map
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prophecy
Map
Chapter 1: Greatward
Chapter 2: The Square Girls Club
Chapter 3: The Hive
Chapter 4: Far as We Need
Chapter 5: The Vote
About the Author
By the Same Author
About the Publisher
1
Greatward
334 AR Summer
Selia shifted, wrapping her arms tighter around the body next to her. Smooth skin with hard muscle beneath, warm like a crock filled with fresh-baked cookies. She put her nose into the thick braid of hair and inhaled. The scent was euphoric.
Selias eyes popped open.
Night, girl! She gave Lesa a shove to wake her. Fell asleep again!
Selia glanced at the window, where a faint glow shone through the shutter slats of her house. Nearly sun-up. Youve got to get!
Shhhhhh. Lesa reached a hand behind her, stroking Selias face until her calloused fingers settled gently on Selias lips. Mam and Da went up to Jeph Bales farm to help prepare. Never know I ent been home.
Lesa snuggled back into the feathered pillow, quickly falling back to sleep. Selia drew a deep breath and curled around her, attempting the same. Lesa was right.
But Selia had never been good at sleeping when there were problems to worry at. Lesas parents might be away, but she was still living under their roof. The young woman had barely twenty summers, while Selia was laying stores against her sixty-ninth winter. Lying with another woman was already enough to ignite town gossip. Taking a lover less than a third her age might see folk strip her of the Speakers gavel if they didnt just put her out in the night and have done.
Even as Selia squeezed her eyes shut, the sight of Renna Tanner, staked in Town Square for the demons, remained.
No. We dont do that any more.
But Selia remembered how quickly Jeorje had turned the town against Renna, and he had far more reason to want Selia staked than some barley-headed farm girl.
Selias arm, tucked beneath Lesa, grew numb. The womans heat had them both sweating, a sticky bond to their skin. Too uncomfortable to sleep, Selia began the slow process of working her arm free without waking her partner.
Already, she was planning the day. Lesas family wasnt the only one to head up to Jeph Bales farm. It was new moon, and Jeph had called the town council to meet on his property that night.
It was an unusual request for the council to meet outside Town Square not to mention at night. But there were rumours about what Jeph was building on his farm, and all wanted to know the truth of it.
Selia didnt need to guess. Arlen Bales paid his father a visit last moon. She knew this because that same night, Renna Tanner had materialized in Selias yard, catching her and Lesa with their skirts up.