Bishop, Anne - Dark Jewels 00 - The Invisible Ring

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

In a world where magic is power and social status is

everything,

the color of the jewel you wear determines the course

of your life...

Jared is a Red-Jeweled Warlord bound as a pleasure slave by the

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

Ring of Obedience. After suffering nine years of torment as a

slave, he murdered his owner and escaped—only to be caught

and sold into slavery once again.

Purchased by a notorious queen, Jared fears he will share the

mysterious fate of her other slaves—never to be seen again—and

so prepares himself for death. But the Gray Lady may not be what

she seems and Jared soon faces a difficult decision: his freedom,

or his honor....

THE INVISIBLE RING

Anne Bishop

A ROC BOOK

ROC

Published by New American Library, a division of

Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York

10014, U.S.A

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England

Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario,

Canada M4V 3B2

Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New

Zealand

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex,

England

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

division of Penguin Putnam Inc.

First Printing, October 2000 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

Printed in the United States of America

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,

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP
business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental
BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE AT QUANTITY DISCOUNTS WHEN 
USED TO PROMOTE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES FOR 
INFORMATION PLEASE WRITE TO PREMIUM MARKETING 
DIVISION. PENGUIN PUTNAM INC 375 HUDSON STREET, NEW 
YORK. NEW YORK 10014.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that 
this book is stolen property It was reported as “unsold and 
destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher 
has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
CONTENTS
Prologue
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19 
20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29 
30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38  39 
40    41    42
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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

For Merri Lee and Michael Debany

Acknowledgments

My thanks to Jennifer Jackson, for her continued enthusiasm and

support of my work; to Laura Anne Gilman who, among her many

other talents as an editor, has the ability to turn a phrase in a way

that makes me laugh—even when she says that terrifying word,

“clarify”; to Pat York and Lynn Flewelling for their insights; to the

Circle, who understand what it means to dance with the Muse; to

Kandra, webmaster extraordinaire; to Vince and Felicia for all the

wonderful dinners sent over the fence; and to Pat and Bill Feidner

for just being there.

Jewels

White

Yellow

Tiger Eye

Rose

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

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.

Blood Hierarchy/Castes

Males:

landen— non-Blood of any race

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

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; performs

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

Prologue

Lord Krelis, the new Master of the Guard, tried not to fidget as he

watched Dorothea SaDiablo slowly pace the length of her private

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

audience room. If she’d been any other woman, he might have

openly admired her slender body, might have wondered if the black

hair gracefully coiled around her head felt as silky as it looked, might

have dared to run a hand over the brown skin that wasn’t covered by

her long red dress. He might have enjoyed the way the dress swished

in counter rhythm to her swaying hips. He might have wondered if

the way she caressed her chin with that large white feather was a

subtle invitation for other kinds of caresses.

But Dorothea SaDiablo was a Black Widow, a member of the

Hourglass, the most dangerous and feared covens in the Realm of

Terreille. Black Widows specialized in poisons and journeys of the

mind, in shadows and illusions, in dreamscapes that could ensnare a

man and leave him locked in an endless nightmare.

She was also the Red-Jeweled High Priestess of Hayll. Since there

were no Queens in the Hayllian Territory who could match the

psychic strength that Jewel signified, and since no weaker Queen

who wanted to stay whole and healthy challenged her authority,

Dorothea ruled as she pleased—which was something no male in

Hayll dared to forget.

“Have you seen your predecessor lately?” Dorothea purred as she

swished past him. Her coquettish smile didn’t match the vicious

pleasure in her gold eyes.

“Yes, Priestess,” Krelis replied, trying to keep his voice neutral.

When he and a troop of men had gone into the slums of Draega,

Hayll’s capital, to round up some of the dregs for expendable labor,

he had seen his former commander stumbling out of a filthy

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

alleyway.

The former Master of the Guard was now a maimed, tortured

mockery of the man he’d been. Worse, his inner web, that intimate

core of Self that made the Blood who and what they were, had been

shattered so that he could no longer wear the Jewels, could do no

more than basic Craft, if even that. The keen tactical mind that had

protected Dorothea for so many decades had been split open like a

melon and scraped clean. But not completely. If the haunted eyes in

the scarred face were any indication, enough thought had been left

for him to remember what he had been. And who had done this to

him.

Dorothea swished past Krelis again. Sweat beaded his forehead as he

blanked his mind and prayed to the Darkness that she wouldn’t

sense anything that would make her want to open his inner barriers

and sample his thoughts.

“I gave your predecessor an important task, and he failed me.”

Stopping in front of him, Dorothea smiled as she brushed the feather

against his cheek. “Now he belongs to the Brotherhood of the Quill.”

Krelis shuddered. Mother Night! To be shaved of all the organs that

made a man a man. To need one of those large quills to ...

“Are you going to fail me?” Dorothea purred, leaning close to him.

“No, Priestess,” Krelis stammered. “Tell me what you wish of me,

and I’ll do it.”

“A wise man.” She tickled his lips with the feather before turning

away. “You know of the Gray Lady?”

Had he failed already? Oh, he’d heard vague whispers a few months

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THE INVISIBLE RING - DARK JEWELS PREQUEL - ANNE BISHOP

ago, but he’d still been a Third Circle guard at the time—and

commanders weren’t in the habit of telling their men more than was

necessary. Feeling sick, he swallowed hard, and managed to whisper,

“No, Priestess.”

Dorothea flashed a malicious, amused look at him before resuming

her leisurely pacing. “She’s a dangerous enemy, a Gray-Jeweled

Queen who rules the Territory called Dena Nehele on the other side

of the Tamanara Mountains. She’s been a thorn in my side since she

set up her court forty years ago, and she continues to fight my

attempts to bring the Realm of Terreille under the beneficent

guidance of Hayll.”

Krelis said hesitantly, “Since she’s not from one of the long-lived

races, surely she must be old by now.”

“But still strong,” Dorothea snapped. “As long as she continues to

live, Dena Nehele will be able to resist being drawn into Hayll’s

shadow, and the Territories bordering it will be strengthened by that

resistance. Even if she died tomorrow, it would still take at least one

of their generations to eliminate her influence.”

“You intend to declare war on this Gray Lady?”

Dorothea’s gold eyes turned hard yellow. “Hayll does not lower itself

to such barbarities as war. What would be the point of acquiring a

Territory that had been savaged by the kind of war the Blood fight?”

She tapped the feather against her chin. “There are subtler ways of

making a Territory ripe for the plucking. But that doesn’t concern

you.”

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