Shalador's Lady Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  CHAPTER 1 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 2 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 3 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 4 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 5 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 6 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 7 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 8 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 9 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 10 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 11 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 12 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 13 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 14 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 15 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 16 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 17 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 18 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 19 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 20 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 21 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 22 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 23 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 24 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 25 - EBON ASKAVI

  CHAPTER 26 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 27 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 28 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 29 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 30 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 31 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 32 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 33 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 34 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 35 - KAELEER

  CHAPTER 36 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 37 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 38 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 39 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 40 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 41 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 42 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 43 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 44 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 45 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 46 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 47 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 48 - TERREILLE

  CHAPTER 49 - TERREILLE

  ALSO BY ANNE BISHOP

  The Ephemera Series

  Sebastian

  Belladonna

  The Black Jewels Series

  Daughter of the Blood

  Heir to the Shadows

  Queen of the Darkness

  The Invisible Ring

  Dreams Made Flesh

  Tangled Webs

  The Shadow Queen

  The Tir Alainn Trilogy

  Pillars of the World

  Shadows and Light

  The House of Gaian

  ROC

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

  Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, March 2010

  Copyright © Anne Bishop, 2010

  All rights reserved

  REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data:

  Bishop, Anne.

  Shalador’s lady: a black jewels novel/Anne Bishop.

  p. cm.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-18588-9

  1. Witches—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3552.I7594S54 2010

  813’.54—dc22 2009036065

  Set in Bembo

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  FOR

  NADINE, MERRI LEE, AND ANNEMARIE

  AND FOR

  NEELA

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My thanks to Blair Boone for continuing to be my first reader, to Debra Dixon for being second reader, to Doranna Durgin for maintaining the Web site, to Rick Kohler for making the map pretty, to Pat Feidner just because, and to all the friends and readers who make this journey with me. And a special hello to Nikki and Sloan, the humanitarian vampire princesses I met on an Alaskan cruise.

  Dena Nehele

  JEWELS

  WHITE

  YELLOW

  TIGER EYE

  ROSE

  SUMMER-SKY

  PURPLE DUSK

  OPAL★

  GREEN

  SAPPHIRE

  RED

  GRAY

  EBON-GRAY

  BLACK

  *Opal is the dividing line between lighter and darker Jewels because it

  can be either.

  When making the Offering to the Darkness, a person can descend a

  maximum of three ranks from his/her Birthright Jewel.

  Example: Birthright White could descend to Rose.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  The “Sc” in the names Scelt and Sceltie is pronounced “Sh.”

  BLOOD HIERARCHY/CASTES

  MALES:

  landen—non-Blood of any race

  Blood male—a general term for all males of the Blood; also refers to any Blood male who doesn’t wear Jewels

  Warlord—a Jeweled male equal in status to a witch

  Prince—a Jeweled male equal in status to a Priestess or a Healer

  Warlord Prince—a dangerous, extremely aggressive Jeweled male; in status, slightly lower than a Queen

  FEMALES:

  landen—non-Blood of any race

  Blood female—a general term for all females of the Blood; mostly refers to any Blood female who doesn’t wear Jewels

  witch—a Blood female who wears Jewels but isn’t one of the other hierarchical levels; also refers to any Jeweled female

  Healer—a witch who heals physical wounds and illnesses; equal in status to a Priestess and a Prince

  Priestess—a witch who cares for altars, Sanctuaries, and Dark Altars; witnesses handfasts and marriages; pe
rforms offerings; equal in status to a Healer and a Prince

  Black Widow—a witch who heals the mind; weaves the tangled webs of dreams and visions; is trained in illusions and poisons

  Queen—a witch who rules the Blood; is considered to be the land’s heart and the Blood’s moral center; as such, she is the focal point of their society

  PLACES IN THE REALMS

  TERREILLE

  Dena Nehele

  TAMANARA MOUNTAINS

  GRAYHAVEN—BOTH A FAMILY ESTATE AND A TOWN

  EYOTA—VILLAGE IN THE EASTERN SHALADOR RESERVE

  Ebon Askavi (aka the Black Mountain, the Keep)

  Hayll

  Zuulaman

  KAELEER (THE SHADOW REALM)

  Askavi

  EBON ASKAVI (AKA THE BLACK MOUNTAIN, THE KEEP)

  EBON RIH—VALLEY THAT IS THE KEEP’S TERRITORY

  RIADA—BLOOD VILLAGE IN EBON RIH

  Dea al Mon

  Dharo

  WEAVERS FIELD—BLOOD VILLAGE

  BHAK—BLOOD VILLAGE

  WOOLSKIN—LANDEN VILLAGE

  Dhemlan

  AMDARH—CAPITAL CITY

  HALAWAY—VILLAGE NEAR SADIABLO HALL

  SADIABLO HALL (THE HALL)

  Nharkhava

  TAJRANA—CAPITAL CITY

  Scelt

  MAGHRE—VILLAGE

  HELL (THE DARK REALM, THE REALM OF THE DEAD)

  Ebon Askavi (aka the Black Mountain, the Keep)

  SADIABLO HALL

  CASSIDY’S COURT

  SHIRA—BLACK WIDOW/HEALER

  VAE—WITCH; SCELTIE

  REYHANA—SHALADOR QUEEN

  Warlord Princes

  ARCHERR

  BURNE

  HAELE

  JARED BLAED (GRAY)

  RANON—TALON’S SECOND-IN-COMMAND

  SHADDO

  SPERE

  TALON—MASTER OF THE GUARD

  THERAN—FIRST ESCORT

  Princes

  POWELL—STEWARD OF THE COURT

  Warlords

  BARDRIC

  CAYLE

  RADLEY

  KERMILLA’S COURT

  Warlords1

  ASTON

  BARDOC

  FLYNTON—MASTER OF THE GUARD

  GALLARD—STEWARD

  JHORMA—CONSORT

  KENJIM

  LASKA

  LIEKH

  RIDLEY

  TRAE

  As tales of the new Queen’s heart and courage spread through the Territory of Dena Nehele, the Black Widows felt something tremble through the land. But when they spun their tangled webs of dreams and visions, what they saw gave them little comfort.

  Many saw honey pear trees, heavy with ripe fruit, growing out of rotting bodies that had been left on the killing fields. A few saw a new beginning that was draped in the colors of sunset. Nothing they saw offered clarity—only the certainty that something was coming that would change Dena Nehele forever.

  In Ebon Askavi, the Sanctuary of Witch, another Black Widow studied the dreams and visions in her tangled web—and saw more than the other Black Widows ever could.

  Tears fell from her sapphire eyes, but even she could not have said if those tears were born of sorrow or of joy.

  CHAPTER 1

  TERREILLE

  Ranon stepped out on the terrace behind the Grayhaven mansion, closed his dark eyes, and raised the wood flute to his lips. Then he hesitated while a lifetime of caution warred with the hope he felt because of Lady Cassidy, the Queen who now ruled the Territory of Dena Nehele.

  Because there was hope, and fledgling trust, Ranon took a breath and began to play a greeting to the sun—a song that had not been heard outside of the Shalador reserves for many, many years. Even there, it had not been played openly.

  His grandfather had taught him this song and every other song the Tradition Keepers had held on to since the Shalador people fled the ruins of their own Territory generations ago and settled in the southern part of Dena Nehele. The people had thrived there and put down roots, respecting the traditions of Dena Nehele but never forgetting their own—and hoping, always hoping, that someday they would have a Territory of their own again.

  It had been good land once, and a good place to live when it had been ruled by the Gray-Jeweled Queens. Then Lia died, and Dena Nehele’s decline began. Queens who were backed by Dorothea SaDiablo, Hayll’s High Priestess, gained control within a couple of generations. Dorothea hated the people of Dena Nehele for holding out against her for so long, but she hated the Shalador people even more because of Jared, the Red-Jeweled Shalador Warlord who had been husband and Consort to Lia Grayhaven, the last Gray Lady to rule Dena Nehele.

  Because Dorothea hated Jared’s people, her pet Queens ground away a little more of what was uniquely Shalador with each generation. The boundaries of the reserves where the Shaladorans had settled were whittled away until now they struggled to grow enough crops to feed themselves. The Shalador traditions were forbidden. The dances, the music, the stories—all were taught in secret and at great risk.

  His paternal grandfather was a Tradition Keeper of music. A strong, quiet man, Yairen had been—and still was—a respected leader in Eyota, the village where Ranon had grown up. He was also a gifted musician who believed it was his duty to teach the young how to play the songs that had shaped the Shalador heart.

  The Province Queen who controlled that reserve broke Yairen’s hands as punishment for teaching the forbidden—and then broke them twice more. When they healed the last time, Yairen could barely hold a flute, much less play one. But he still taught his grandson, and he taught him well, despite the crippled hands.

  So this music had been a secret for most of Ranon’s life. Even when he admitted to playing the flute, he never played within the hearing of anyone he couldn’t trust—and even then, he rarely played the songs of Shalador.

  Did the Queen he now served understand how much trust was required for him to stand here and play the music of his people? Probably not. Lady Cassidy had recognized his reluctance to play, but not even Shira, the Black Widow Healer who was his lover, understood how deeply fear and hope had twined in his heart these past few days as the flute’s notes floated on the air and became a part of the world. Yes, he was afraid, but the hope of something new and better was the reason he stood here, in a place that had been a stronghold for the twisted Queens, and played music that had been forbidden.

  As one song followed another, Ranon let his heart soar with the notes and fill with a joyful peace.

  “How long do you have to spend serenading the little green things before you can have breakfast?”

  He opened his eyes and lowered the flute. The peace he’d felt a moment before vanished as Theran Grayhaven stepped out on the terrace.

  He and Theran didn’t like each other. Never had. But he detected nothing in the question except polite interest.

  “A quarter of an hour.” Ranon glanced at the hourglass hovering in the air next to him. Judging by how much sand was in the bottom of the glass, he’d played twice that long. “Gray says it will help the honey pear trees grow.”

  “Does he really think they’ll wilt and die if you don’t stand out here playing music?” Theran asked as he studied the thirteen pots that were sheltered by the raised flower beds that formed the terrace wall.

  Ranon’s heart gave a hard bump at the thought of any of the little honey pear trees dying, but he wouldn’t admit to anyone how much the living symbols of the past meant to him.

  Jared had brought six honey pear trees to this land. One of them had been planted here at Grayhaven for Lia and had remained in the gardens long after it died as a mocking symbol of the Gray-Jeweled Queens who had once ruled. But that dead tree had hidden thirteen honey pears, carefully preserved. Lia had hidden them; Cassidy had found them as the first step to locating the Grayhaven treasure. Because of that, those little trees were a thread of shining hope that linked the past and the present.

  “
Doesn’t matter what Gray thinks,” Ranon replied. “It is the Queen’s pleasure that I play the flute each morning for the honey pears, so I play.”

  He knew the phrasing was a mistake the moment he said it.

  “Well, we all play for the Queen’s pleasure in one way or another, don’t we?” Theran said. Then he glanced at Ranon and added with a touch of malice, “Better play faster or there won’t even be porridge left by the time you get to the table, let alone meat and eggs.”

  I guess we’re not trying to get along anymore, Ranon thought. Since he made no secret of it, everyone in the court knew he hated porridge. Which meant Theran had said that in order to jab at him. Why? Because they didn’t like each other, and the effort to be civil rarely lasted for more than a few minutes at a time?

  Hell’s fire. Grayhaven had been running hot and cold since Cassidy found the treasure and proved she was meant to rule here, but they were all committed to working together for the good of the land and the Queen.

  For the good of the land, anyway. The other eleven men who made up the First Circle knew Theran didn’t feel the same commitment to Cassidy that they felt. Serving in her court was part of the agreement Theran had made in order to bring a Kaeleer Queen to Dena Nehele. That didn’t mean he wanted to serve her, despite his recent efforts to work with her instead of opposing her.