The Amber Legacy (30 page)

‘Yes,’ Meg answered, wondering if she was meant to add ‘Your Majesty’ to whatever she said.

‘Well, when you’re changed, I’d like you to come to my chamber for dinner. I’ll send Ample to fetch you. You can wear your preferred clothes, although I have to say you looked stunningly beautiful in the green dress this morning. I was quite jealous when I first met you. You’re already the talk of the palace.’ Meg blushed. ‘Good. At least I can embarrass you. I’ll see you at dinner.’ Queen Sunset headed for the door, but stopped when she reached it and turned to Meg. ‘Bring the rat. What’s his name?’

‘Her
name is Whisper.’

‘Bring Whisper then,’ said the Queen.

C
andles flickered along the hall. Before the massive double door at the end, a pair of Elite Guards waited, the candlelight shining on their ebony armour. ‘I will leave you here, Lady Meg,’ said Ample, the portly matron who led Meg to the next level and the Queen’s chamber. ‘The Guards will admit you.’ She bowed and scuttled away.

‘Guess this is it,’ Meg said to the rat on her shoulder, and she approached the Guards. They opened the doors.

Within, a brown-haired boy, neatly dressed in an outfit similar to her own, greeted her by bowing, and saying, ‘Welcome, Lady Meg. My name is Smallone. I am Her Majesty’s pageboy. Her Majesty asked that you join her on the balcony first,’ and the boy led the way across a dimly lit chamber. A large rectangular wooden table at the centre was adorned with a lit candelabra and bright yellow flowers in a red vase. Two plush high-backed chairs were arranged at the table, but the table could seat up to twelve people comfortably. Paintings and tapestries of pastoral scenes covered the walls. French doors opened onto the balcony where Queen Sunset was leaning against the balustrade, staring into
the night. She held a pottery bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. The tang of salty air filled Meg’s nostrils. ‘Your Majesty?’ Smallone called gently.

The Queen turned, her blonde hair across her shoulders. She wore a silver nightdress under a red dressing-gown. ‘Thank you, Smallone. That will be all tonight. Tell the chef he can serve at moonrise.’ Smallone bowed and withdrew. The Queen looked Meg up and down and said, ‘Do you always dress like a man?’

‘I dress practically. On our farm, a dress in the fields and around the animals is hardly sensible.’

The Queen smiled. ‘I’m direct, as you will quickly learn. The more I like you, the more direct I am. I don’t have time for niceties, especially in private. Sit down.’ Meg obediently sat, but the Queen remained standing, the sea breeze flaring her blonde hair. ‘You’re probably wondering why I would invite a complete stranger to my chamber. Well, to me, you’re not exactly a complete stranger. My people researched everything about you before you were brought here. It may be that I know more about you than you know about yourself. You, on the other hand, probably know nothing about me. So, I understand if you’re nervous about being here, since I’m the stranger, not you.’ The Queen poured a measure from the bottle into her glass and took a swig. She waved the bottle in front of Meg. ‘Want some?’

‘What is it?’ Meg asked.

The Queen chuckled as if Meg had just made a joke. ‘Wine with euphoria. It’s good for relaxing.’

‘The drug? Isn’t it bad?’

Queen Sunset snorted and poured a fresh glass. ‘Here. I think you need to learn about city life quickly, girl.’ She held the glass towards Meg.

Meg took the glass and sipped. The wine was sour, like the worst that Fletcher Archer kept for cheap
travellers at his inn, but in it was a taste that reminded her of honey. She savoured it on her tongue.

‘Do you like it?’

‘It’s like mead.’

‘Oh, it’s better than mead. It’s better than any alcohol. Drink the rest.’ Meg sculled the contents and returned it. ‘There,’ the Queen said. ‘That should start our evening together very smoothly.’ She stared at Whisper. ‘Does she bite?’

‘No.’

The Queen extended a tentative finger and Whisper sat up on Meg’s shoulder to sniff inquisitively. ‘I’ll ask you many questions tonight, but tell me now—why do you carry a rat everywhere?’

‘Not everywhere,’ Meg corrected. She explained old Samuel’s legacy, without mentioning the amber crystal, finishing with, ‘And she saved my life last night, as well.’ She lowered the restless rat to the floor.

‘A remarkable creature,’ the Queen said, watching the rat satisfying her curiosity as she explored the new environment. ‘I also hear you have a pet dingo.’

‘Sunfire. I haven’t seen him since arriving last evening.’

‘He’s in capable hands,’ the Queen reassured her. ‘Before you meet with Seer Diamond tomorrow morning, I’ll see to it that Leader Cutter brings him to you.’

‘Why am I meeting with Seer Diamond?’

‘Come to the table and I’ll explain.’ She led Meg from the balcony, pausing to close the double doors, before crossing to the table. She waited for Meg to sit. A grin came to her face. ‘You know nothing of protocol, do you?’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘It doesn’t matter. I rather like your freshness.’

Meg screwed up her face. ‘Would you explain what you mean?’

The Queen sighed. ‘Around me there are a thousand rules for the way other people should behave. For example, no one dares sit before the Queen sits.’

‘Oh. I’m sorry,’ said Meg, and she started to rise.

‘Oh, for Jarudha’s sake, sit down!’ the Queen ordered, and laughed. ‘Seriously, all I’m doing is explaining this to you. Perhaps I
should
teach you some rules in case you offend the others with your lack of decorum.’

Meg relaxed. ‘What rules?’

‘It’s customary to bow whenever I enter or leave or address you. You wait for me to speak to you before you speak to me. You always address me as “Your Majesty”. You don’t look me in the eye, unless I insist on it.’ She paused, seeing the serious concentration on Meg’s face. ‘Look, Meg, there are more rules than I can even bother to explain. I don’t want you to learn them, at least not yet. Just know that’s what others are doing. If you’re not sure, take your cue from those around you. And when it’s just you and me, like this evening, none of those rules apply.’

‘Like I’m doing with Spring.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Spring, the girl in my bedroom—chamber, isn’t it?—she keeps on trying to call me “Lady Meg” and all I want is “Meg”. That’s what you mean, isn’t it?’

‘Almost. Although, perhaps it would be better if you let Spring call you “Lady Meg”. People like her don’t quite understand what you’re doing. It will only confuse her.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ said the Queen. ‘I’ll order the food to be brought in.’ She picked up a small gold hammer and struck a golden bowl on the table. The mellow ring it produced surprised Meg. ‘More euphoria?’ the Queen asked, already beginning to
pour a measure into a glass beside Meg’s arm. They quietly sipped the drink, while four servants carried in trays and crockery and cutlery and set the meal. As the last servant withdrew, the Queen said, ‘Normally I would have one of them serve me, but tonight I thought it would be more interesting if we serve ourselves. Please—begin.’ There was more food on the table than Meg had ever seen in a single setting, even in Archer’s Inn. Most of the dishes were roasted vegetables, but there were two plates of steaming carved meat, and three tiny jugs of different sauces. She was hungry, so she filled her plate.

As they ate, the Queen asked questions about Summerbrook and Meg’s family. Meg gave details between mouthfuls. She was aware of an increasing light-headedness, like she’d drunk too much alcohol, a sensation she’d only experienced once after she drank a half bottle of mead behind Fletcher Archer’s Inn. What she especially noticed was the heightening of her senses, as if she could hear and see more acutely. She could feel Whisper’s hunger as well, as if the rat was telling her how she felt, so she dropped morsels of food at her feet. ‘Tell me about your Blessing,’ the Queen instructed.

Meg explained how she had healed Wombat and Leader Westridge. ‘I didn’t understand what was happening,’ she said. ‘I still don’t.’

‘Jarudha’s Blessing is part of the mystery of faith,’ Queen Sunset said, as she lifted her glass to wash down her food. ‘At least, that’s what Seer Diamond will tell you.’

‘So why am I seeing the Seer again?’

The Queen put down her glass. ‘You’ve created a difficulty for the Seers,’ she said. ‘You see, you’re not what you’re supposed to be.’

‘What am I supposed to be?’

The Queen snorted. ‘A man.’ Her smile faded and she leaned forward, as if she was afraid that someone would overhear her. ‘When I learned that the soldier who’d slain Marchlord Overbrook was a woman, at first I couldn’t believe it. I thought Marchlord Strong was playing some cruel, twisted jest. But when Leader Cutter corroborated his story, I felt as if Jarudha had finally brought me a spark of hope in a world darkened by the constant shadow of men.’ Her face beamed with excitement. ‘Do you know what it’s like being Queen? Being the solitary woman hounded daily by a pack of baying men?’ She paused, studying Meg with her blue eyes. ‘You truly are a stunningly beautiful girl!’ Meg blushed and turned her face away, astonished by the Queen’s frank compliment, but she was more startled when the Queen’s hand cupped her jaw and turned her head back to face her. ‘I’ve been praying to Jarudha that someone like you existed,’ the Queen confessed.

‘Why?’ Meg asked.

The Queen laughed and released Meg. She leaned back in her chair and quite loudly said, ‘Because at last I’ve found someone who can destroy the monopoly these men have on the Seers!’ She rose and stood behind Meg’s chair. ‘Why do you wear your hair so short?’

‘It’s growing back. I cut it to disguise myself as a man.’

The Queen laughed as she ran her fingers through Meg’s locks. ‘See? Women can’t even be in the army. In
my
army. The men won’t allow it. I’m the Queen, the highest authority in the entire kingdom, and my army doesn’t allow women to fight beside the men.’

Meg enjoyed the Queen massaging her scalp, although she was intimidated by the intimate gesture. ‘Why don’t you just order the men to let the women in the army?’

The Queen squatted beside Meg’s chair, her hands resting on Meg’s leg, and said, ‘Oh, that it could be so easy, I’d do it. But the Tithe Lords and the Marchlords and the Warmasters and all the soldiers would kick up such a fuss, and suddenly I wouldn’t have an army. But you—you make something far more dangerous possible. You can be a Seer.’ She reached under the chair and patted Whisper who was asleep, before she returned to her chair. ‘Tomorrow, Seer Diamond and his colleagues will put you through the test reserved for Potentials. When you pass it, they will have to admit you as an acolyte and train you.’

‘That’s if I pass,’ Meg said quietly.

Queen Sunset leaned across the table again. ‘There’s no “if”, Meg. Tomorrow you will become the first woman ever admitted to the temple to train to become a Seer. I’ve prayed for you to come, for all of the twenty-seven years that I’ve been Queen, and in that time there’s been no one. But now there is you. Now, there is you.’ She poured another glass of euphoria and refilled Meg’s glass. ‘To us, Lady Meg Farmer. To the new Marchlord of the Queen’s army, and to the new Seer in waiting.’

The ground upon which she walked was so detailed that she felt she could see every grain of sand, see even a spider scurrying across it. She felt the sun beating on her neck, and sweat beaded on her brow and nose. Shimmering in a heat haze, rising from the sand, was a black finger—a windowless ebony tower. This, whispered the bodiless voice, is the Sands of Fire in a realm that was once the empire of the Ranu Ka Shehaala. This was my home. For a while.

Who are you? she asked.

Your future, the voice replied.

Where is this place?

In the past.

Out of the sand rose an arm, the hand clutching the hilt of a sword, the blade snapped off.

Take the sword, the voice whispered.

It’s broken, she protested.

Mend it.

‘Pardon, Lady Meg,’ a voice whispered outside of her dream, ‘but it’s best if you leave before morning.’ In the pale moonlight seeping through the big chamber window she saw the waifish face of the pageboy, Smallone. She slipped out of the soft bed, rubbing her eyes, shivering at the touch of the chill air as her feet sank into the thick fur of the floor rug. Glancing back, she saw the Queen’s blonde hair splayed across a pillow, a bare shoulder in the pale moonlight. ‘Here are your clothes, my lady,’ Smallone murmured, and she felt material thrust into her hands.

Dressed, still partly disoriented, she followed the pageboy from the Queen’s bedroom, across the large chamber where they’d eaten and talked and drank, to the main doors. ‘I’ll take you to your chambers, Lady Meg,’ Smallone told her.

‘Wait,’ Meg said. ‘Where’s Whisper?’ She found the rat curled up under the table. She picked her up, and cuddled her against her chest as she followed Smallone out of the chamber past the Guards.

S
unfire’s tongue lolled joyfully as Meg hugged him, before he wrestled loose and shook himself as she got to her feet. ‘He’s missed you,’ Blade said.

‘But you’ve obviously been looking after him,’ she replied.

‘The hardest task has been confining him to the barracks. He wants to go hunting.’

She laughed. ‘Thank you for bringing him.’

They watched the dingo settle beside the rat and start licking Whisper’s ears. ‘I still can’t understand that,’ he said.

‘Neither can I. They just became friends.’

A blue-robed figure strolled across the grass towards them. Seer Diamond bowed politely, studied the tableau of the dingo and the bush rat, and said to Meg, ‘I’ve been sent to bring you into the temple again, my lady.’

She turned to Blade. ‘I have to go.’

‘I understand,’ he said. ‘I’ll look after Sunfire until you’re free again.’ When he called the dingo, Sunfire looked at Meg, ears attentive, as if expecting her to countermand Blade’s call. Blade called again, and Sunfire’s ears lowered as he padded to the man’s side,
throwing deliberate glances at Meg. Whisper sat up, sniffing the air in the dingo’s direction.

‘What about the rat?’ Seer Diamond asked.

‘She comes with me,’ Meg answered, waving to the departing Blade and Sunfire. She clicked her fingers and Whisper scampered across the grass and jumped into her hands.

‘If you would,’ Diamond instructed, gesturing towards the temple grounds, screwing up his face at the rat.

Meg followed the Seer into the circular yellow temple, along the curved hall, which was empty, to the same door she’d entered the previous morning. Diamond ushered her inside, and the same three men were sitting at the table. ‘Please sit,’ Diamond requested.

‘Is that a rat?’ Light asked, spotting Whisper appearing from the top of Meg’s vest.

‘Her name is Whisper,’ she informed him.

‘It
is
a rat!’ he said, his disgust undisguised. ‘Get it outside!’

Meg fought her nerves and fixed Light with a steady gaze, saying, ‘If Whisper goes, so do I.’ Inwardly, she was very afraid of the old man with the dark glittering eyes.

‘Be at peace, Light,’ said Diamond. ‘I said she could bring the rat.’

Light looked at Diamond with astonishment.

‘Be at peace,’ Onyx repeated.

Light acquiesced, mumbling. The Seers went through simple pleasantries as to how well she’d slept and whether or not she was comfortable in the palace, much to her bemusement. Then Diamond said, ‘To the point.’ He nodded to his colleagues, before he proceeded. ‘How long have you known of your Blessing?’

‘Not long,’ Meg replied. ‘How is the man who was here yesterday?’

Diamond glanced at the others, before replying, ‘Fully recovered.’

‘Were his wounds bathed?’

‘There was no need,’ said Diamond.

‘He’s been sent back to the prison,’ Onyx added, ‘now that he is well again.’

‘Oh,’ Meg murmured, disappointed.

‘We assume that you are a devotee of Jarudha? A disciple?’ Light asked.

The Intermediary’s warning echoed in her thoughts. She looked at Light. ‘I have the Blessing.’

Light cleared his throat as a gesture of disapproval. ‘Hardly a satisfactory answer.’

‘How could she have the Blessing, if not with Jarudha’s intention?’ asked Vale, who had been silently observing. ‘Does it not say in the scriptures that “He shall only place His blessing on those who are at one with Him in all things?”’

‘False Potentials have come before,’ Light argued. ‘She has to be one.’

‘We will know soon enough,’ said Onyx.

‘What does that mean?’ she asked.

‘It means we intend to test you,’ Diamond told her.

‘How? You’ve already had me heal a man. You’ve seen that I have the Blessing.’

‘You have a very rare talent,’ said Light. ‘That makes you a Potential. It means you can do a little magic. It doesn’t mean that you can become a Seer. Besides, you’re—’ He stopped.

‘I’m what?’ Meg asked, remembering the Queen’s comments.

‘Seer Light is forgetting that you are a guest,’ said Diamond, who was casting a warning glance at his colleague. ‘The Queen has ordered that you are to begin training.’

‘What is the test you mentioned?’

‘The training will be the test,’ said Onyx.

‘And when am I supposed to begin training?’

‘Immediately,’ said Diamond.

‘Seer Diamond!’ blurted the acolyte, as he burst into the small reading chamber and bowed.

‘What is the matter, Seeker?’ Diamond asked, peeved by the interruption.

‘There is a problem with the new one,’ said Seeker.

‘Explain.’

‘She won’t cooperate, Seer.’

Diamond lowered his reed ink pen, and sighed. ‘I will come.’

Seeker stood aside as Diamond passed him in the doorway, and obediently followed the Seer along the corridor as he headed for the acolyte chambers. Diamond descended steps to the level below ground and entered the sleeping area to find Meg, in her new yellow robe, glaring defiantly at an acolyte holding scissors. ‘What is the problem?’ Diamond asked, looking at Meg for an answer.

‘I’m not shaving my head,’ she replied in a level voice.

‘Oh,’ said Diamond. He shrugged and sighed. ‘Well, that was a short test, then. Change your clothes and go back to the palace. I’ll tell my colleagues.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ she gasped.

‘The test is over. You failed. Go home,’ Diamond said perfunctorily.

‘Are you telling me that, because I won’t shave my head, I’m not worthy?’

‘Reason what you will from it. The test is ended.’

‘You’re doing this because I’m a woman, aren’t you?’

Diamond laughed. ‘You’re just out of girlhood, so you’re hardly a woman, Lady Meg. Wherever did you get that pretty notion from?’

‘Why can’t I keep my hair?’

‘The answer is self-evident to those with eyes,’ said Diamond. ‘This farce is over. I have work to do. When I’ve finished, I’ll visit the Queen with the news that her social experiment didn’t live up to expectations. Now, excuse me, Lady Meg, while I get back to important matters.’ He turned and left the chamber.

Meg swore. ‘I’ve stood on the front line of a battle! I’ve ploughed the field and slaughtered animals on my farm! I’m no farce!’ she declared. She spun on her heel and sat on the chair before the acolyte with the scissors. ‘Well?’ she muttered impatiently. ‘Get on with it.’

Diamond, Light, Vale and Onyx studied the bald, yellow-robed acolyte standing in the centre of the room. Light shook his head with disapproval and muttered inaudibly, while Diamond circled Meg before rejoining his colleagues. ‘Well?’ she asked.

‘As an acolyte, young—lady,’ said Diamond sternly, ‘you don’t speak until you are invited to do so. If you can’t show discipline of the self, you have already failed.’

She felt like telling him that, according to his rules, she’d already failed twice—for refusing to shave her head, and from the outset for being female. Instead, she gritted her teeth and kept silent. ‘By accepting the role of acolyte as a disciple of Jarudha, you have forsaken all other worldly responsibilities,’ said Vale quietly. ‘Do you understand what this means?’ Meg shrugged.

‘It means,’ Light interrupted, his irritation bristling, ‘you forfeit the title of Marchlord the Queen recently promised to you, you are no longer free to come and go as you please, you are totally obedient to anyone who bears the title of Seer, any loves you might have had are no longer allowed, any wealth in your name becomes the wealth of the Holy Church. In short, the—
woman
who went by the name of Meg Farmer ceases to exist. You are Jarudha’s servant, unequivocally and eternally. Do you understand
that
?’

Meg let the concept settle in her mind. Was she doing the right thing? What about her home? What did it really mean? ‘Can I keep Sunfire and Whisper?’

Light looked at Diamond. ‘The rat and her pet dingo,’ Diamond explained.

‘No,’ said Light, turning to Meg. ‘You own nothing.’

‘I don’t own them,’ she argued, but she saw Diamond’s sharp glare, warning her to hold her tongue, so she went silent again.
This is madness
, she decided.
What is the point?

‘You don’t have to go through with this,’ said Onyx. ‘You can leave now.’

‘Frankly, I think you should show some commonsense,’ said Light. ‘You don’t want to do this anyway.’

‘I will ask you once, and only once, if you want to serve Jarudha and walk the Path to Immortality,’ Diamond explained. ‘You can say no. If that is your answer, you can leave without recrimination. If you say yes, there is no leaving. Ever. Once you have sworn your soul to Jarudha, the marriage is eternal. You must not have any confusion about this. The only way out of the Holy Order is death. Do you really understand what I am saying?’

Why am I doing this? Is it because Emma sent me on this path? Or is it because my mother was always hoping that she would have a daughter with the Blessing? No one ever asks me what I want. Or when they have, they haven’t listened. Am I doing this for the Queen?
No. One evening wasn’t enough to make her throw away her life. Yet the Queen so passionately wanted her to join the Holy Orders and become the kingdom’s first female Seer.
How long will that take?
No one had told her that. ‘How long do I stay an acolyte before I become a Seer?’ she blurted.

Diamond’s eyebrows rose. Light snorted contemptuously. ‘It depends,’ said Onyx. ‘It can take years.’

‘It can take a lifetime,’ growled Light.

A lifetime?
‘Do you mean it’s possible I might never become a Seer?’

‘Yes,’ said Light abruptly.

‘Only Jarudha knows that answer,’ said Onyx.

She considered what she had been told. Acceptance was permanent. Once in, there was no going back. ‘What if I fail once I’m an acolyte?’

‘The only way out is
death,’
said Light brutally.

She didn’t have to do this at all. She could accept the Queen’s accolades in the parade tomorrow, enjoy her brief sojourn in the city, and go back to Summerbrook. And she could tell Emma and her mother that it had all been a mistake about the Blessing. That’s all she had to do. ‘I understand,’ she said.

Diamond looked at his colleagues. Light scowled. Diamond asked, ‘Are you prepared to walk the Path to Immortality?’

Barefoot on the chilly tiles in the Queen’s Counsel Chamber, she ran her right hand across her bald pate. When Wombat had hacked off her long tresses to disguise her, the loss of her hair had been terrible. Now she had no hair at all. And she was not allowed to grow it again until she’d proven herself capable as a Seer. Or failed. And they not only took her hair but also her name. ‘The entire outer world is left at the temple door when you choose to walk the Path to Immortality,’ Seer Diamond told her. ‘Lady Meg Farmer no longer exists. As a disciple of Jarudha, you must go by a name befitting your status.’

‘We can give you a name, or you can choose. It must be a single name, and it must reflect something of your spirit,’ said Onyx. ‘It cannot be a name already in use by another acolyte.’

‘Have you a preferred name?’ Diamond asked.

My name is Meg
, she thought.
What name will they give me if I don’t choose one?
The acolyte who’d cut her hair called himself River, and the other was Shadow.

‘Perhaps Farmer is appropriate,’ said Diamond.

His unsubtle mockery made her defy his choice. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I choose Amber.’

‘Amber?’ Diamond queried. ‘Why that name?’

‘It’s what my soul says I should be called,’ she replied, exercising her own subtle mockery.

‘A good answer,’ said Onyx. ‘And no one else goes by that name here.’

‘Hereafter, you will be Amber,’ said Diamond, but she saw that he was miffed by her rejection of his choice.

Boots clicked on the tiles. She turned her head to see the Queen entering, accompanied by the Intermediary in his customary black raiment, and three Elite Guards. Queen Sunset circled Meg, inspecting her. She stopped at Meg’s right and said, ‘Who ordered Lady Meg to shave her head?’

‘It is the custom for all acolytes, Your Majesty,’ Seer Diamond replied calmly. ‘It has always been so.’

‘For boys and men,’ said Sunset. ‘You are dealing with a woman.’

‘Would Your Majesty prefer the woman to be treated differently?’ Diamond asked, knowing his question left the Queen in an untenable position. Say yes, and she would instantly affirm that men and women deserved different treatment because they held different levels of status. Say no, and Meg would have to endure humiliation.

‘What do you think, Lady Meg?’ the Queen asked.

‘I expect to be treated as an equal,’ she replied, disguising her disappointment.

‘Where is she sleeping?’

‘Where all acolytes sleep, Your Majesty,’ said Diamond. ‘The first lesson for those who would serve Jarudha is humility,’ and he bowed his head to emphasise the point.

‘You don’t like having a woman to train, do you, Diamond?’ the Queen asked.

‘If she is truly blessed, Your Majesty, her gender is irrelevant. Jarudha’s ways are infinite. He has sent us a queen, after all.’

‘Yes, he has,’ Sunset said, ‘and it’s well for you to remember that.’

‘Yes, Your Majesty.’ Diamond bowed again. When he straightened, he announced, ‘The new acolyte’s name is Amber, Your Majesty. She has sworn herself to Jarudha and has forsaken worldly ties.’

‘I wish to speak in private to Amber,’ said the Queen. ‘I will send her back to the temple with Follower after we are through.’ Diamond bowed, and withdrew, accompanied by Follower and the Guards. When the chamber was empty, Queen Sunset took Meg’s hands, saying, ‘Oh, Meg! What have I done to you?’

‘Nothing,’ said Meg. ‘This is my choice.’

‘But your hair? And you have to sleep and share the same room with all those men.’

Meg saw the pain in the Queen’s blue eyes and was touched by her compassion. ‘My hair will grow back one day. As for the acolytes—they can’t be worse than sleeping among soldiers.’

‘Is this what you want?’

‘I was told that it was my destiny to be a Seer. I will only ever know the truth if I do this.’