The King's Sons (The Herezoth Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

have said that Kora had known the king
while he was dispossessed, and only then. What power had he held during
sorcerer-dictator Zalski Forzythe’s reign? Rexson Phinnean’s first act as
monarch had been to exile the woman.
    Kansten,
however, could not draw attention to the obvious, not with Vane’s breath heavy
on her neck. She felt ill to condone the insults against her mother, but all
she could think to say in response was, “She must be one of those women, yes.”
Kansten turned back to the mural, as though to study it out of curiosity, while
a twinge of hot guilt made her mouth twitch.
    Vane led
Kansten back to the courtyard. His pace had her trotting to the start of the colonnade,
some hundred yards before the Palace. Kansten stopped there, out of the
guardsmen’s range of hearing, and whirled the duke to face her. Before she
could speak, he said, “I know how hard that is.”
    “I feel like
a snake.”
    “Want to go
home?”
    Kansten
scoffed. “Home to Triflag? Look, I know quite well that idiots like that, they
don’t want me here. They’d lose their minds if they knew who my mother is. I’m
staying, and I’ll have a good chuckle over it every night at Oakdowns.”
    “The last
laugh’s theirs if you let them turn you bitter. They’re not worth your time,
not a second of it. Half of them don’t even know what they’re saying.”
    “That fool
sure didn’t.”
    “I’ve dealt
with the nonsense for years, and it’s not one bit easier today than a decade
ago. At least you can see for yourself now you can’t shout about where you come
from.”
    “What about
my accent?” Kansten demanded. “You think it won’t draw attention?”
    “I was
meaning to talk to you about that. I have a spell that would mask it, if you’d
let me use it on you. You’d speak like a woman from Podrar.”
    Kansten
gulped. “Would it hurt?”
    “Just a dull
sting for a few seconds. I had your uncle cast it on me after I found it.”
    “Cast it,”
said Kansten. “Go ahead, right now. I’m not leaving Herezoth, so if the spell
will make it easier to fit in….”
    “You’re sure
you’re all right with this? You’ll sound different, to yourself even. That’s a
substantial change, and if you aren’t sure….”
    “Is it
reversible?”
    “I can
remove the spell any time you’d like.”
    “Then say
the blasted incantation.”
    “All right,
then. If you’re ready.” Kansten nodded, and Vane whispered, “ Voza Podrarum Estandarum .”
    Kansten
massaged her throat, though as Vane had warned, it stung her only lightly and
for less than a minute. “So, what do you think?” she asked, and clasped a hand
to her mouth. Her voice had the rhythms and the vowels of a Podrar native,
crisper than those of her natural Traigland accent. Her words rolled off her
tongue too fast, or faster than she was used to. Vane smiled at her.
    “You sound
very like my cook. Maybe more like her daughter, come to that.”
    “I guess
sounding like I’m from here’s good,” said Kansten. “I’ll get used to it. I just
need to talk some.”
    “I can
always remove the spell,” Vane reminded her. “Or we could come back in a day or
two.”
    “No way. I
want to see the Palace. Can we go in the main doors?”
    “I’m afraid
not. It’s the servants’ entrance for the likes of us—well, the likes of
you.”
    They took
off to cross the rest of the courtyard. The duke spoke with the guard at the
servants’ door, said he had made arrangements for the king to speak with a
harpist from Ingleton who was hoping to play at an upcoming banquet. That got
Kansten inside, where she planned to talk to Vane as they walked, to accustom
herself to her new voice.
    The Palace
rendered her speechless. Its narrow hallways, rich carpets and tapestries, and
lamps that each were different in some way kept her silent. Her awe increased
as Vane led her out the servants’ quarters into the Palace proper and through
the domed vestibule with all its marble,