“I was protecting you, Jan,” Allesandra told him, though there was no energy to her protest. “Elissa was a fraud. An impostor.”
“I know,” Jan told her. “She’d been hired to kill Fynn.”
“What?” That brought her head up and caused fire to course through her briefly. Allesandra swung to face him. “What are you saying? The White Stone killed Fynn.”
“Indeed, she did,” Jan told her, with that same infuriating smile. “Let me tell you something you might not know, Matarh, though you should have: Elissa was the White Stone. She used me in order to get to Fynn.”
“That’s not possible,” Allesandra said. It couldn’t be; it wasn’t possible. The voice she’d heard, the woman go-between; no, it wasn’t possible, yet… She remembered the voice, higher than she might have expected for a man. And she had never seen the Stone. She had just assumed…
“Believe whatever you need to believe,” Jan was saying. “I really don’t care.” He gestured again toward the throne. “Take your new seat, Matarh. Don’t be shy. You’ve waited for it for so long, after all, and Regent ca’Rudka has renounced all claim to the title. You can have Semini give you a blessing. Maybe the ca’-and-cu’ will come back to the city now, so you can tell them that there’s a new Kraljica.”
Jan started to walk away toward the open doors. She took a step and caught at his wounded arm. “Jan. Son…”
He wrenched his arm away from her, grimacing with obvious pain as he did so, and that was more an agony to her than any sword cut. “ Sit, Matarh. Take your Sun Throne. You have what you’ve always wanted. Enjoy the gift I’ve given you.”
With that, he walked away toward ca’Rudka and the others. She watched him leave, wanting to call out to him, to keep him from leaving, to stop the pain.
She didn’t. She watched him reach the bright doorway, and she heard his laugh as he clapped ca’Rudka on the back with his uninjured hand. The four of them walked away and sunlight collapsed around them.
Semini was staring up at the sky where Brunelli’s dome had once been, his breath loud in his nose. Allesandra walked slowly to the Sun Throne.
She sat.
In the depths of thick crystal, there was no light. No response at all. The throne remained sullenly dark.
Epilogue: Nessantico
She was shattered. She was broken.
She had been scorched by fire and magic; she had been slashed with steel. She had been looted and ravaged. Her greatest treasures were damaged or gone. The buildings that had been her crown were tumbled ruins and piles of blackened stone. The jeweled necklace of the Avi a’Parete no longer glistened in the night. Now there were only stars in the sky above, gleaming mockingly down at her darkness.
Half her population was dead or had fled. She had felt for the first time in long centuries the tread of conquering soldiers along her streets: had felt them not once, but twice. A Kraljica sat on the Sun Throne, but she looked out on an empire that had withered and shrunk.
There was no denying the gauntness of the visage that stared back at the city from the filthy mirror of the A’Sele: the city’s face was a crone’s face, a blasted face, a face of scars and open wounds and pain. There was no beauty here, no glory, no wonder.
That was gone, as if it had never been.
When the rains came, as they did frequently that autumn, it was as if the entire world wept for her: the city, the woman. The storms washed away the soot and extinguished the fires, but they could not heal. They cooled and soothed, but they could not restore. They flushed away the bodies and garbage and soil that choked the river, but their thundering could not shatter the memories.
The memories would stay.
They would stay for a long, long time…
Appendices
PRIMARY VIEWPOINT CHARACTERS
Audric ca’Dakwi [AHD-ric-Kah-DAWK-whee] The Kraljiki in Nessantico.
Sergei ca’Rudka [SARE-zhay Kah-ROOD-kah] The Regent of Nessantico until Audric comes into his majority at sixteen.
Karl ca’Vliomani [Karhl Kah-vlee-oh-MAHN-ee] Ambassador of the Numetodo from the Isle of Paeti, friend of Archigos Ana and Regent ca’Rudka.
Allesandra ca’Vorl [Ahl-ah-SAHN-drah Kah-VOORL] Daughter of the Hirzg of Firenzcia, and once the heir to that title herself.
Jan ca’Vorl [Yahn Kah-VOORL] Son of Allesandra and Pauli.
Eneas cu’Kinnear [Eh-NIGH-us Coo-ken-EAR] An offizier with the Garde Civile in the Hellins, fighting the Westlanders.
Varina ci’Pallo [Vah-REE-nah Kee-PAHL-low] A Numetodo.
Nico Morel [NEE-koh Mohr-ELL] A young boy living in Oldtown.
Niente [Nee-EHN-tay] The Nahual (chief spellcaster) of the Westlanders (Tehuantin).
The White Stone An assassin.
SUPPORTING CAST
(by rank, then alphabetical order)
The Ca’:
Karin ca’Belgradin [KAH-reen Kah-bell-GRAH-deen] Allesandra’s great-vatarh, once Hirzg of Firenzcia. Died of Southern Fever.
Francesca ca’Cellibrecca [Frahn-SESS-ka Kah-sell-ee-BREK-ah] Daughter of Orlandi ca’Cellibrecca, wife of Semini.
Orlandi ca’Cellibrecca [Orh-LAHN-dee Kah-sell-eh-BREK-ah] Archigos Orlandi I, the first of the Breznoian Archigi. Deceased.
Semini ca’Cellibrecca [SEH-meen-eh Kah-sell-ee-BREK-ah] (nee cu’Kohnle) The Archigos in Brezno. Married to Francesca.
Justi ca’Dakwi [JUSS-tee Kah-DAWK-whee] (nee ca’Ludovici, nee ca’Mazzak) Kraljiki Justi III, also known as Justi the One-Legged, son of Kraljica Marguerite I (ca’Ludovici), vatarh of Marguerite, Audric, and Elzbet ca’Dakwi. Deceased.
Marie ca’Dakwi [MAH-ree Kah-DAWK-whee] Matarh of Marguerite, Audric, and Elzbet ca’Dakwi. Deceased.
Armen ca’Damont [ARR-mhen Kah-dah-MHONT] Starkkapitan of the Firenzcian Garde Civile.
Sinclair ca’Egan [Sinn-CLARE Kah-EE-ghan] Head of the Council of Ca’ in Brezno.
Kenne ca’Fionta [KENN-ah Kah-fee-ON-tah] A’Teni of Nessantico within the Concenzia Faith.
Aleron ca’Gerodi [ALH-er-onn Kah-ger-OH-dee] Member of the Council of Ca’.
Petrus ca’Helfier [PET-roos Kah-HELL-fear] Once Commandant of the Holdings forces in the Hellins.
Marguerite ca’Ludovici [Marhg-u-REET Kah-loo-doh-VEE-kee] Former Kraljica of Nessantico, the “Genera a’Pace.”
Sigourney ca’Ludovici [Si-GOHR-nee Kah-loo-doh-VEE-kee] Second cousin to Audric ca’Dakwi, twin sister of Donatien ca’Sibelli, and a member of the Council of Ca’.
Meric ca’Matin [MAHR-ick Kah-mah-TEEN] An a’offizier with the Holdings army in the Hellins.
Odil ca’Mazzak [OH-deel Kah-MAH-zak] Member of the Council of Ca’.
Dhosti ca’Millac [DOST-ee Kah-MEE-lok] Archigos of the Concenzia Faith prior to Archigos Ana. A dwarf.
Villa ca’Ostheim [VEEH-ahh Kay-OHST-hime] A’Teni of Villembouchure, and a war-teni.
Ana ca’Seranta [AHN-ah Kah-sir-AHN-tah] Archigos of Nessantico.
Donatien ca’Sibelli [Don-AY-shun Kah-see-BEHL-lee] Second cousin to Audric ca’Dakwi, and twin brother of Sigourney ca’Ludovici. Commandant of the Garde Civile in the Hellins.
Colin ca’Vliomani [KOHL-inn Kah-vlee-oh-MAHN-ee] Son of Karl, living on the Isle of Paeti.
Nilles ca’Vliomani [NIGH-ulhs Kah-vlee-oh-MAHN-ee] Son of Karl, living on the Isle of Paeti.
Fynn ca’Vorl [Finn Kah-VOORL] Hirzg of Firenzcia.
Greta ca’Vorl [GREH-tah Kah-VOORL] Matarh of Hirzgin Allesandra.
Jan ca’Vorl [Yahn Kah-VOORL] (nee ca’Belgradin) Vatarh of Hirzgin Allesandra.
Pauli ca’Vorl [PAHL-lee Kah-VOORL] (nee ca’Xielt) Husband of Allesandra, son of the Gyula of West Magyaria.
Toma ca’Vorl [TOH-ma Kah-VOORL) Son of Jan and Greta. Deceased.
Valeri ca’Weber [Vahl-AIR-ree Kah-VEH-ber] A’Teni in Prajnoli, North Nessantico.