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watched. Roderic bent to look at him more
     closely, and incredibly, the child opened his eyes and focused. Abelard’s eyes looked out of the tiny face, and in that moment,
     Rodericunderstood why he would fight with his last breath to preserve his father’s kingdom. Not for himself, not for his missing
     father, but for this fragile being, who had existed only moments before as anonymous lumps beneath his mother’s belly, and
     now who lived and breathed and moved as independently as he. And with a pang of wonder, Roderic realized that when this infant
     was grown to manhood, and fathered children of his own, those children would live to see a time and a place he could never
     know. He had a sense of past and present and future, of the link from grandfather to father to son to generations yet unborn.
     He felt at once both humbled and exalted.
    Roderic bent and kissed Annandale’s mouth again. He had no words to express what he was feeling, but his eyes met hers, and
     he had the uncanny sense she understood. She nodded and closed her eyes, lying back against her pillows, her face suddenly
     white with exhaustion. “Rest, love,” he murmured. At the door, he paused once more and looked at the bustling women. “Thank
     you all.” He kissed Tavia’s cheek. “I’m sorry I was rude.”
    She smiled, her wrinkled face crinkled around her faded blue eyes. “It is not every day an heir to Meriga is born.”
    He gripped her under the elbow and guided her to the antechamber. “How is Amanander? Has there been any other change?”
    Tavia glanced into the bedroom and pulled the door shut. “No—not really.”
    “Not really? What do you mean by that?”
    “This morning, before I was summoned here, Gartredwas allowed to see him—you know, her weekly visit—and I could have sworn I saw him open his eyes and look at her.”
    “He opens his eyes all the time.” Roderic frowned.
    “But this time—” Tavia broke off. “Perhaps it was a trick of the light. It was so dark—we had candles lit well into the morning.”
    “What do you think you saw?” Roderic asked gently, aware that this sister hated Amanander with a passion and lived for the
     day when he would answer for his crimes before the Congress.
    “I thought he looked at her as though he knew her. I thought I saw recognition in his eyes.”
    Roderic tapped a finger on his chin, considering. “Who’s with him now?”
    “Jaboa. She’s been with him since—”
    Roderic nodded. Jaboa, Brand’s wife, was as trusted a nurse as Tavia. She could well confirm or deny anything that Tavia thought
     she might have seen. “Well. I’ll have the servants bring you all dinner. And I’ll speak to Jaboa. Perhaps she noticed some
     change, too. I’m going to see Phineas, now. But I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He leaned down and pecked another kiss on
     her plump cheek.
    If Amanander were to wake out of his unnatural sleep, and stood trial before the Congress, it would without a doubt contribute
     to a speedy end to the rebellion in Missiluse. He went down the staircase to Phineas’s chambers with a light heart and an
     easier step.

Chapter Three

    D own dark and winding corridors Amanander roamed, heels tapping, tapping, tapping on the faded wooden floor. He rounded corners,
     strode up and down dusty staircases, lost in a haphazard maze. He knew he searched, but why and for what he had forgotten,
     and that awareness gnawed as annoying as an itch.
    Sometimes he thought he heard voices, a blurred buzz that rose and fell just at the periphery of his hearing. Sometimes he
     thought he heard his name, but each time he paused and tried to listen, the voices maddeningly faded.
    Debris was piled in the corners, along the corridors, broken spears and swords which crumbled into dust when he touched them.
     Room after room was full of mismatched crockery, ragged clothes, and phantom chairs and beds and tables that vanished at his
     approach. He felt with frustrating