Blood and Memory
The Quickening Book Two
Chapter One
The Queen has suffereda sleepless night, churning over her decision to expel Romen Koreldy. Valentyna has measured the dark hours by listening to the muted noises of the guard changing. The only other distraction was the distant, infrequent howl of a dog -- or was it a wolf? She wondered if it
was caught in one of the traps laid by poachers ... or more
whimsically she imagined it had lost its mate and was venting
its despair.
She understood such things, for the sorrowful cry only
served as an echo of her own loneliness.
Valentyna asked herself yet again if she could have hung
on to the man she loved and still appeased an angry king? A
king, she added, with more than enough fighting power to
overwhelm Briavel. The answer, whichever way she approached
the problem, was no.
"Damn duty!" she murmured into her coverlets. She
punched the feather pillow that brought no comfort this night.
To add to the misery, a vision of Fynch haunted her. How he had looked at her she would never forget. He too had
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