The Dawn Star Read Online Free PDF Page B

mocked him with its beauty. Influenced by Taka Mal architecture, it cut a graceful form against the sky, with its onion towers and scalloped crenellations. But where Taka Mal was a land of fire and sunsets, here he saw only ice. Prismatic windows sparkled, and bridges arched between white towers. The palace was like frozen lace, a glittering fantasy. He wondered how such a dark place could look so light. But it was fitting that it took its name from the hardest-known substance, diamond, cold and unforgiving.
    Mel came alongside of him on her smoky horse. He tried to smile at her, but it didn’t work.
    She indicated the palace. “It’s spectacular.”
    â€œYes.” Hated, too, but he couldn’t speak of those memories. In his childhood, he and his mother had spent part of each year at the Castle of Clouds back in the cliffs. For a few months, they would be free of Stonebreaker’s violence. But if they stayed too long, the king sent soldiers to “escort” them home. After Cobalt became an adult, however, he and Dancer refused to go. Even Stonebreaker realized it would be going too far to have his soldiers drag his family out of his border castle and back to his palace. Instead, he set up conditions intended to make life unbearable for Dancer at the Castle of Clouds. He knew if she came home to the Diamond Palace, Cobalt would as well, to protect her, and Stonebreaker would again have them in his sphere of control. So he refused to allow Dancer any female companions and forbade any man there to speak to her, except her son. She would live in loneliness. With no female servants, she would have to care for herself. He expected her home within a month.
    She never went back.
    Last year, when Cobalt had ridden to Shazire, Dancer had gone with him as far as Applecroft. Mel’s home. And there she had stayed, in that place of warmth and affection. He had hoped she would never have to leave. But Stonebreaker’s illness called her home. Just as he was driven to see his grandfather despite—or perhaps because of—the demons that haunted his heart, so too had his mother returned to this chilly universe of ice and cold stone.

    Mel fell in love with the Misted Cliffs. Before this visit, she had known this country only by the imposing cliffs on its border with Harsdown. This was her first trip to the interior. The glens, meadows, and small valleys charmed her. She could tell, though, that Cobalt didn’t share her enthusiasm. He rode alone and barely spoke to anyone.
    They were almost at the Diamond Palace, already passing the sentries who patrolled the area on horseback. She hoped she didn’t cause a chill in their reception. Rumors about her mage powers had probably preceded them. She wished she could show Cobalt’s people the beauty of the spells without alienating them. Her mother Chime, the mage queen of Harsdown, had once showed her how a prism split light into colors. The order of those colors matched the order of spells, from least to greatest: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and a violet so dark she almost couldn’t see it. Red spells brought warmth and light, orange eased pain, yellow soothed emotions, green read emotions, blue healed physical injuries, and indigo healed emotions.
    A mage could do spells for any level up to a maximum color, which varied from person to person. Red and orange mages were the most common; Mel knew of roughly twenty-five. Yellow was rarer. The only known greens were Chime and the mage mistress at Castle Suncroft in Aronsdale. The mage mistress at Applecroft in Harsdown was the only pure blue. Iris, the Aronsdale queen, could blend spells of more than one hue, but blue was her strongest color.
    Mel’s father was an indigo. However, he could only use flawed shapes, which distorted his spells. Instead of warming a room, he could set it on fire; instead of healing, he might cause injury. He had used his abilities during the war