Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel 04 - Kushiel's Scion

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OTHER BOOKS BY Jacqueline Carey

Kushiel's Legacy

Kushiel's Dart

Kushiel's Chosen

Kushiel's Avatar

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's

imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead,

is coincidental.

Warner Books

Time Warner Book Group

1271 Avenue of theAmericas ,New York,NY10020

Visit our Web site at www.twbookmark.com.

First Edition: June 2006

ISBN: 044650002X

Printed in theUnited States of America

Dedicated to everyone

reaching for the sunlight,

everywhere.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Montrevè's Household

Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève—Comtesse de Montrève

Joscelin Verreuil—Phèdre's consort; Cassiline Brother (Siovale)

Imriel nó Montrève de la Courcel—Phèdre's foster son (also member of the royal family)

Ti-Philippe—chevalier

Hugues, Gilot, Marcel—men-at-arms

Eugenie—mistress of the household, townhouse

Clory—niece of Eugenie

Benoit—stable-lad, townhouse

Purnell and Richeline Friote—seneschals of Montrève

Charles, Katherine, Denis Friote—seneschals' children

Ronald Agout—falconer

Artus Labbé—kennel master

Members of the D'Angeline Royal Family

Ysandre de la Courcel—Queen of Terre d'Ange; wed to Drustan mab Necthana

Sidonie de la Courcel—elder daughter of Ysandre; heir to Terre d'Ange

Alais de la Courcel—younger daughter of Ysandre

Imriel nó Montrève de la Courcel—cousin; son of Benedicte de la Courcel (deceased) and Melisande

Shahrizai

Barquiel L'Envers—uncle of Ysandre; Royal Commander; Duc L'Envers (Namarre)

House Shahrizai

Melisande Shahrizai—mother of Imriel; wed to Benedicte de la Courcel (deceased)

Faragon Shahrizai—Duc de Shahrizai

Mavros, Roshana, Baptiste Shahrizai—cousins of Imriel

Members of theRoyal Court

Ghislain nó Trevalion—noble, son of Percy de Somerville (deceased)

Bernadette de Trevalion—noble, wed to Ghislain, sister of Baudoin (deceased)

Bertran de Trevalion—son of Ghislain and Bernadette

Amaury Trente—noble, former Commander of the Queen's Guard

Julien and Colette Trente—children of Amaury

Marguerite Grosmaine—daughter of the Secretary of the Presence

Nicola L'Envers y Aragon—cousin of Queen Ysandre; wed to Ramiro Zornin de Aragon

Raul L'Envers y Aragon—son of Nicola and Ramiro

The Night Court

Nathalie nó Balm—Dowayne of Balm House

Emmeline nó Balm—adept of Balm House

Didier Vascon—Dowayne of Valerian House

Sephira—adept of Valerian House

Alba

Drustan mab Necthana—Cruarch of Alba, wed to Ysandre de la Courcel

Necthana—mother of Drustan

Breideia—sister of Drustan, daughter of Necthana

Talorcan—son of Breideia

Dorelei—daughter of Breidaia

Sibeal—sister of Drustan, daughter of Necthana, wed to Hyacinthe

Hyacinthe—Master of the Straits, wed to Sibeal

Grainne mac Conor—Lady of the Dalriada

Eamonn mac Grainne—son of Grainne and Quintilius Rousse

Tiberium

Master Piero di Bonci—teacher of philosophy

Lucius Tadius, Aulus, Brigitta, Akil, Vernus—students of Master Piero

Deccus Fulvius—senator

Claudia Fulvia—wife of Deccus; sister of Lucius

Anna Marzoni—wido

Belinda Marzoni—daughter of Anna

Canis—beggar

Master Strozzi—teacher of rhetoric

Master Ambrosius—incense-maker

Erytheia of Thrasos—painter

Silvio—assistant to Erytheia of Thrasos

Denise Fleurais—DAngeline ambassadress in Tiberium

Ruggero Caccini—ruffian commander

Priest of Asclepius

Titus Maximius—princeps of Tiberium

Oppius da Lippi—captain of theAeolia

Lucca

Publius Tadius—father of Lucius

Beatrice Tadia—mother of Lucius

Gallus Tadius(deceased)—great-grandfather of Lucius

Gaetano Correggio—Prince ofLucca

Dacia Correggio—wife of Gaetano

Helena Correggio—daughter of Gaetano andDacia

Bartolomeo Ponzi—enamored ofHelena

Domencio Martelli—Duke of Valpetra

Silvan us the Younger—commander of Valpetra's mercenary company

Arturo—captain of the Luccan guard

Orfeo, Pollio, Calvino, Matius, Adolpho, Baldessare, Constantin—soldiers in the Red Scourge

Quentin LeClerc—captain of the D'Angeline embassy guard

Romuald—soldier in the D'Angeline embassy guard

Marcus Cornelius—commander of the Tiberian contingent

Others

Maslin of Lombelon—unacknowledged son of Isidore d'Aiglemort (deceased)

Lelahiah Valais—Queen Ysandre's chirurgeon

Emile—proprietor of the Cockerel

Quintilius Rousse—Royal Admiral

Favrielle nó Eglantine—couturiere

Bérèngere of Namarre—head of Naamah's Order

Amarante of Namarre—daughter of Bérèngere

Brother Selbert—chief priest in the Sanctuary of Elua (Siovale)

Gilles Lamiz—Queen's Poet

Roxanne de Mereliot—Lady of Marsilikos (Eisande)

Gerard and Jeanne de Mereliot—children of Roxanne (Eisande)

Historical Figures

Baudoin de Trevalion(deceased)—cousin of Queen Ysandre; executed for treason

Isidore d'Aiglemort(deceased)—noble; traitor turned hero (Camlach)

Thelesis de Mornay(deceased)—Queen's Poet

Waldemar Selig(deceased)—Skaldi warlord; invaded Terre d'Ange

Fadil Chouma(deceased)—Menekhetan slaver

The Mahrkagir(deceased)—mad ruler of Drujan; lord of Daršanga

Drucilla(deceased)—Tiberian prisoner in Daršanga; chirurgeon

Kaneka—Jebean prisoner in Daršanga

Jagun(deceased)—chief of the Kereyit Tatars

Ras Lijasu—Prince ofMeroe in Jebe-Barkal

Prologue

What does it mean to be good?

When I was a child, I thought I knew. It was easy then. I knew nothing of my birth or my heritage. My

childhood was spent in the Sanctuary of Elua, where I was a ward. My days were spent in worklike play:

scrambling the mountainsides and tending goats with the other children of the Sanctuary, climbing trees

and swimming in the swift stream while our charges grazed.

I was steeped in the precept of Blessed Elua: Love as thou wilt. And I did. I loved without reserve,

freely and easily—my playmates, the priests and priestesses of the Sanctuary, the goats I tended, the

earth beneath my feet and the sky above my head. I am a D'Angeline; I loved Terre d'Ange, the country

of my birth. With all my heart, I loved our gods, Elua and his Companions, and I knew myself loved in

return. I was happy. I never thought to be anything else.

When I was ten years old, everything changed.

I was stolen by Carthaginian slave-traders and sent on a journey into hell. And I thought I'd die there,

but I didn't. I was rescued. I was brought out of damnation into safety.

And everything changed again.

In a distant fortress on the far verges of Khebbel-im-Akkad, the D'Angeline Queen's delegate bowed

his head and greeted me as Imriel de la Courcel, Prince of the Blood.

All that I knew of myself was a lie.

I learned my father was Benedicte de la Courcel, the great-uncle of Queen Ysandre. For many years, he

was her closest living relative in House Courcel. But by the time I heard the news, he was long dead. He

was a traitor to the throne, and if he'd lived to be tried, he would have been convicted of it. He didn't,

though.

My mother was another matter.

When I was eight years old, before I knew who she was, Brother Selbert took me to La Serenissima to

see my mother. He had told me that my parents had been D'Angeline nobles who had died of an ague

during a ship crossing, bequeathing me with their dying breaths to the priest as a ward of the Sanctuary.

He told me that this woman had been a friend of my parents and would stand as my patron when I came

of age. And he told me that she had dangerous enemies and that I must never speak of her, for it would

put her in grave danger.

That last bit, at least, was true. I believed him. Why shouldn't I? I'd spent my life trusting him. But

everything else was a lie. And he didn't tell me that she had earned each and every enemy she made. My

father's treachery pales in comparison to her deeds. In all its history, Terre d'Ange has never known a

deadlier traitor than Melisande Shahrizai de la Courcel.

My mother, whom I learned to despise.

In hindsight, it seems strange that I didn't recognize her at the time. And yet how was I to know? There

were no mirrors in the Sanctuary of Elua. Betimes we children used to lean over the goat-bridge and peer

at our wavering reflections in the stream's surface, but that was all. I was as ignorant of my features as I

was of my identity.

Of course, that was before the slave-traders took me. Then I had ample opportunity to hear myself

described. In the country of Drujan, they were looking for perfect, unblemished sacrifices. I was sold to

one of the bone-priests who served the Mahrkagir, the ruler of all Drujan. The Mahrkagir was cruel,

ruthless and utterly mad. And I was bought for his foul harem, the zenana in thepalaceofDaršanga .

Beauty is scant comfort on a descent into hell.

I resemble my mother.

I know it now. I see it in mirrors—there are always mirrors, in my foster-mother Phèdre's

household—and I hate it. I wear my mother's face. My eyes are her eyes, a deep twilight blue. My skin

is her skin, a shadowed alabaster, the color of old ivory. I see the generous curve of her mouth reflected

in my lips. My hair, like hers, grows in gleaming, blue-black waves.

The resemblance cannot be denied.

There are those—even now, after all she has done—who marvel that I don't welcome it. Although she

was the greatest traitor our nation has known, Melisande Shahrizai was one of its greatest beauties, too.

A deadly beauty, bright as the sun, keen as a blade. In certain circles, she is still admired for it. If there is

a nation on the face of the earth with a people more vain than Terre d'Ange, I've yet to find it. And in my

twelve years, I've seen more of the world than most D'Angelines will ever glimpse.

But I have seen beauty, and it does not wear my mother's face.

When I gaze in the mirror and see her features reflected in mine, I am filled with uncertainty. What does

it mean to be good? When I look inside myself, I see only darkness and confusion. I do not know why

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摘要：

OTHERBOOKSBYJacquelineCarey Kushiel'sLegacyKushiel'sDartKushiel'sChosenKushiel'sAvatarThisbookisaworkoffiction.Names,characters,places,andincidentsaretheproductoftheauthor'simaginationorareusedfictitiously.Anyresemblancetoactualevents,locales,orpersons,livingordead,iscoincidental.Copyright©2006...

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