zhang104

When he had heard her named, that first day, as a woman from Certando, the dim, allowed spark of his mind had flickered and burned, for he knew, he knew what she had come to do
Then, as the months passed and the years, he watched helplessly with his rheumy eyes from under the crush of his mountains, as the terrible interwovenness of things added love to everything elseHe was bound to Brandin unimaginably and he saw what happenedMore, he was made to be a part of it, by the very nature of the relationship between the Kings and the Fools of Ygrath
It was he who first gave expression, beyond his control, he had no control, to what was growing in the heart of the KingBack in a time when Brandin still refused to admit even the idea of love into a soul black spy bag and a life shaped by vengeance and loss it was Rhun, Valentin, who would find himself staring at Dianora, at Saevar’s dark-haired daughter, with another man’s soul in his eyes
No more, not ever againThe long night had been rolled backThe sorcery that had bound him was goneIt was over; he stood in sunlight and could speak his true name if he choseHe took an awkward step forward and then, more carefully, anotherNo one noticed him thoughThey never noticed himEven that name, chosen by the KingOnly the two of them ever to knowNot for the world, thisHe had even understoodPerhaps the most terrible thing of all: he had understood
He stepped under the canopyBrandin was ahead of him near the edge of the hillHe had never struck a man from behind in all his chanel classic bag daysHe moved to one side, stumbling a little, and came up on the King’s right hand
“You should have killed me by the river,” he said, very clearlySlowly, Brandin turned his head, as if just now remembering somethingValentin waited until their eyes met and held before he drove his sword into the Ygrathen’s heart, the way a Prince killed his enemies, however many years it might take, however much might have to be endured before such an ending was allowed
Dianora could not even scream she was so stunned, so unpreparedShe saw Brandin stagger backward, a blade in his chestThen Rhun, Rhun!, jerked it clumsily free and so much blood followedBrandin’s eyes were wide with astonishment and pain, but they were clear, so luminously clearAnd so was his voice as d