"Kate Elliott - Crown of Stars 5 - The Gathering Storm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

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Book Information:
Genre: High/Epic Fantasy
Author: Kate Elliott
Name: The Gathering Storm
Series: Volume Five of The Crown of Stars
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KATE ELLIOT

**VOLUME Five of CROWN OF STARS**

The Gathering Storm
PROLOUGE
SHE dreamed.
In the vault of heaven spin wheels of gold, winking and dazzling. The thrum of their
turning births a wind that spills throughout creation, so hot and wet that it becomes a
haze. This mist clears to reveal the tomb of the Emperor Taillefer, his carved effigy atop
a marble coffin. His stern face is caught eternally in repose. Stone fingers clutch the
precious crown, symbol of his rule, each of the seven points set with a gem: gleaming
pearl, lapis lazuli, pale sapphire, carnelian, ruby, emerald, and a banded orange-brown
sardonyx.
Movement shudders inside each gem, a whisper, a shadow, a glimpse.
Villam's son Berthold rests peacefully on a bed of gold and gems, surrounded by six
sleeping companions. He sighs, turning in his sleep, and smiles.
A hand scratches at the door of a hovel woven out of sticks, the one in which Brother
Fidelis sheltered. As the door opens, the shadow of a man appears, framed by dying
sunlight, his face obscured. He is tall and fair-haired, not Brother Fidelis at all. Crying
out in fear, he runs away as a lion stalks into view.
Candlelight illuminates Hugh ofAustra as he turns the page of a book, his expression
calm, his gaze intent. He follows the stream of words, his lips forming each one although
he does not speak aloud. A wind through the open window makes the flame waver and
shudder until she sees in that flame the horrible lie whispered to her by Hugh.
Heresy.
She knelt in the place of St. Thecla as the holy saint witnessed the cruel punishment
meted out by the empress of the Dariyan Empire to those who rebelled against her
authority. The blessed Daisan ascended to the sacrificial platform. He was bound onto a
bronze wheel. Never did his smile falter although the priests flayed the skin from his