The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

by Samantha Shannon

Tané locked her right hand over Ead’s and pushed her fingers between her knuckles, so they both held the waning jewel. It pressed against the dying beat of her heart. “Together,” Tané whispered. “For Neporo. For Cleolind.”

“Your bones lie behind me. Nothing lies ahead. You are dead, and I an old man,” he murmured. “I resented you for such a long time, Jannart. I had been comfortable in the belief that I would die before you did. Perhaps I even tried to ensure it. I hated you—hated the memory of you—for leaving first. Leaving me.”

“You loved me. Without condition. You saw the person I could be. And I will be that person, Jan. I will endure, my midnight sun.” He touched the stone face one more time, the lips that were so like they had been in life. “I will teach my heart to beat again.”

Marriage to a queen required loyalty only to her realm, and Ead claimed no loyalty to anyone but the Mother. Yet what was between them could not be denied. It was Sabran Berethnet who sang to her soul.