The Priory of the Orange Tree

Loth finally reunites with his sister, Margret. Ead eavesdrops on some courtiers and learns that people still think Sabran is carrying the future princess and for that reason prefers to stay confined to her quarters. Ead concludes that Igrain Crest has Sabran under house arrest and is running the court.

Ead, Loth, and Margret free Lintley and the other “Knights of the Body” from their holding cells. Though Ead has been labeled a witch and a traitor, Lintley places his trust in her. The group distracts Igrain’s soldiers so Ead can climb the tower to Sabran’s room. However, close to Sabran’s quarters, Ead meets Igrain and her retainers. Ead tells Igrain that she knows Igrain is behind the attacks on Sabran and possibly the murder of her mother, Queen Rosarian: Because Rosarian took a lover, Gian Harlowe, Igrain believes the Berethnet line is tainted. Igrain does not deny the charges and tries to capture Ead, but Loth’s group enters and fends off Igrain. Ead goes to Sabran, where she finds Roslain guarding her door to protect the queen. Though Igrain is her grandmother, Roslain is an ally of Sabran and Ead. Ead embraces the unwashed and thin Sabran, assuring her that everything will be fine.

At Vane Hall, Elder Vara tells Tané that he has heard pirates are keeping Nayimathun captive on a ship headed to the “lost isle of Komoridu” (532). Tané is inwardly happy to know Nayimathun is still alive. She requests Vara’s permission to research the celestial jewels at the hermitage’s library. There, Tané learns that Ishari—her childhood friend, chosen as a scholar—was in the library at the time of the wyrm attack and perished. A weary Tané studies records about the gems and learns that there are two, known as the “waning jewel and the rising jewel” (537). Neporo, “self-declared” queen of Komoridu, bound the Nameless One with the help of her friend, “the sorceress from across the sea” (537). Tané knows in her bones that the gem sewn into her side is one of the two gems used to bind the monster; it is time to use its hidden power.

Sabran orders the arrest of Igrain and her followers. Igrain was torturing Sabran to make the queen relinquish the kingdom to the Crest family. Ead and Loth bring Sabran up to speed with events in the world outside. Ead and Sabran’s flirtatious, bold manner towards each other shows Loth that their relationship has evolved.

Ead now reveals the sensitive information that Sabran is not a descendant of Cleolind but rather Galian and a stranger. Galian is not the noble saint Sabran believed him to be but a usurper. The Lady of the Woods, Kalyba, is real. Finally, it is not the Berethnet line that keeps the Nameless One in check; rather, they need the gems and the Sword of Ascalon to bind him. Though Sabran bristles at Ead’s revelations, Loth placates her. Loth wonders if the lost sword of Ascalon could be at Goldenbirch, near the seat of his family, since Kalyba told Ead that Galian left the sword with his most trusted: Loth’s ancestor was someone whom Galian trusted with his life. Before Loth and Ead go looking for the sword, Sabran appoints Loth the temporary Duke of Justice in place of Igrain. Loth is to determine if Combe and the other members of Sabran’s council were Igrain’s allies.

Ead rejoins the court at a feast. Loth returns from interrogating Igrain. Though he didn’t learn much, Roslain told him Igrain believed herself “the judge of queens” (549). Believing Rosarian a “harlot” and Sabran the child of Rosarian and Gian Harlowe, Igrain conspired with the Yscalin king to kill the Inysh queen. Igrain then kept a watchful eye on the orphaned Sabran, influencing her decisions. When she sensed Sabran was headstrong like Rosarian, she began to turn against Sabran as well. It was Igrain who infiltrated Truyde’s plan.

A splendid but minimally adorned Sabran appears in the court. She tells the people of the conspiracy against her and the loss of her pregnancy. Assuring the people she will always protect them, Sabran rallies their support. Sabran appoints Ead the viscountess of a region called Nurtha, making her the first non-Inysh person to receive such an honor. Nurtha is the same region where Kalyba was born and grew up. Lintley is promoted, and he asks Ead for permission to marry Margret. Ead obliges and Margret is overjoyed. Loth worries that Margret’s impending nuptials will put pressure on him to marry. Loth tells Ead he senses that she and Sabran love each other and promises to always be there for his friends.

In Sabran’s chambers that night, Sabran tells Ead she feels everything she believed in is a lie, including her religion. Ead tells her their love is not a lie. Ead loves Sabran not as a queen but as an equal. Ead and Sabran make love. Meanwhile, Loth questions Combe. Combe assures him he never agreed with Igrain and her brutal methods. Combe promises to testify against Igrain and make amends for his own unkind acts, such as banishing Loth and Kit.

Aboard the Pursuit, Niclays is racked with guilt at having taken blood and a scale from Nayimathun. Laya tells him Nayimathun may be dying since she has been out of seawater for a prolonged time. Laya wants to flee the ship with Nayimathun and Niclays, but Niclays wants to reach the mulberry tree. Laya suggests they flee once Niclays has made the elixir of immortality for the Golden Empress, taking a few drops with them. Niclays agrees, hoping he can return to Inys and be a grandfather to Truyde and unaware that she is dead.

Margret takes Ead to Serinhall, the Beck family home close to Goldenbirch. Ead meets Margret’s parents, Lady Annes and Lord Clarent Beck. Clarent is confined to his room, suffering from dementia. Ead and Margret tell him Loth is dead so that Clarent will believe that Margret is his only heir and that he therefore owes her the secret of the sword Ascalon. Clarent says the sword has to be hidden in case the Lady of the Woods returns for it. Clarent whispers an incoherent-sounding riddle about the sword’s location, but Margret is able to decipher it immediately.

The two women go to the haithwood, rumored to be Kalyba’s seat, beyond the edge of Goldenbirch. There, they find a “coney-hole” (rabbit burrow) that leads to an underground chamber. Ead uses her siden and the magic of the jewel to break open the great stone slab covering Ascalon. Ead lifts the magnificent sword.

On their way back, Kalyba suddenly appears before Ead and Margret. Kalyba tells Ead that she has been following her since her escape from the Priory. Ead has betrayed her by not bringing her the fruit. Now Kalyba wants Ascalon, the sword she forged. Ead begs her to let them keep Ascalon so they can slay the Nameless One. Ead and Kalyba battle, with Ead using magefire to burn away the witch’s enchantments. The magefire reveals Kalyba’s true form, which exactly resembles Sabran.

Kalyba reveals that she pretended to be Cleolind so she could marry Galian, whom she had loved since he was a child in her care. Soon Galian and Kalyba had a daughter, Sabran I. However, Galian’s enchantment broke and he realized Kalyba’s true identity. He banished Kalyba and killed himself for shame at marrying his adoptive mother. The line of Inysh queens is descended not from Cleolind but Kalyba. Kalyba now wants to ally with the Nameless One and be his queen. She will give him Sabran and take her place on the Inysh throne. Staring into Kalyba’s green eyes, Ead realizes she is the white wyrm who caused Sabran’s miscarriage. Kalyba changes into her wyrm form, seizes Ascalon, and flies away.

As Sabran and Loth enlist the help of possible allies in the coming war, Loth tells Sabran that she may be the child of Gian Harlowe. Sabran accepts the likely truth of her parentage. Ead brings in Aralaq, who tells Sabran he will guard her “as [he] would [his] own pup” (602). Sabran bids Aralaq be fed and roomed well. Ead updates Sabran about the loss of Ascalon. She believes the only way to stop the Nameless One in the sword’s absence is to call upon the Eastern dragons, whose sterren may hold back his power. The idea is taboo in Virtudom since they believe the East evil for worshipping dragons. However, Ead urges Sabran to open her mind since all religions share a fear of the Nameless One.

In private, Sabran tells Ead she fears that she will have to marry to win an alliance with the East. Ead tells her to first offer Eastern rulers a military alliance. If that doesn’t work, Sabran may have to marry to save Inys, though the idea is repulsive to her. Sabran senses that Ead has held something back from her about her trip to Goldenbirch. Ead tells Sabran the truth about the Inysh queens’ lineage.

Igrain is executed and Roslain, her granddaughter, appointed the new Duchess of Justice. Sabran has been quiet since Ead’s revelation about her lineage. Meanwhile, Aubrecht’s sister sends the message that her astronomers calculate that the Nameless One will rise on the third day of the coming spring. Since it is already midwinter, Ead prepares to head East to seek an alliance. Close to Ead’s chambers, Ead’s friend Nairuj shoots her with a poisonous dart. Ead survives but is extremely weakened by the poison. Sabran asks Loth to go to the East in place of Ead.