A tall fair-haired woman in white stands on a windy headland above the sea, shading her eyes to watch a silver flying machine with long wings pass overhead. — A princess of air, a gambler born without a blessing, and a flying machine that will carry him farther than anyone planned.

Elemental Blessings · Book II · 2013

Royal Airs

A princess who runs a shelter in the slums, a gambler born without a single blessing, and the machines that are teaching Welce to fly.

Royal Airs is the second Elemental Blessings novel, published by Ace in November 2013 and set five years after Troubled Waters. Its heroine is Princess Josetta, elay, Zoe’s tall and steady half-sister, who stopped being the likely heir when King Vernon’s secrets came out and now runs a shelter in the southside slums of Chialto. Its hero is Rafe Adova, a twenty-seven-year-old professional gambler who was born without a single blessing and pulls nothing but ghost coins. The viewpoint passes back and forth between the two of them, a chapter or two at a time, across twenty-nine chapters.

Two plots braid through it. One is a slow-burn romance between a princess and a man with no element, carried on over card games, shelter suppers and small presents, that turns into a cover story and then quietly stops being one. The other is political: a lost-prince mystery written in the cut points of Rafe’s right ear, and the primes’ search for someone to inherit the throne that Darien Serlast holds as regent. Kayle Dochenza’s new flying machines give the book its biggest set pieces, and it is hard not to hear “heirs” in the title.

This page spoils everything, the ending included.

Movement 1

The Wrong Bar

In a southside tavern in Chialto that never closes, Rafe Adova plays penta through the night for a living, his long hair in a ponytail over his right ear. He privately names his opponents: the Loser, Sad Boy, Sweela Woman. When a lock slips loose, Sweela Woman sees what it hides: the outer curve of his right ear, sliced into five triangular points.

A runaway girl with a sprained ankle and a wild mess of red hair is hiding in the bar. When a burly hunti thug called Becko and his partner go for her, Rafe throws down his cards, and he and Samson, the tavern keeper, face them down. She calls herself Cora and says she is trying to find her sister. Rafe offers to sit with her until someone comes, and she falls asleep in the booth. Later she learns that he has no birth blessings at all: at the temples he pulls only blank ghost coins, which are bad luck to draw.

The sister arrives on a swirl of fresh wind: Josie, tall, ashy-blond, dressed in white, with eyes only for Cora. Cora, it turns out, jumped from her stepfather Dominic’s elaymotive to get away from him; Josie has sent her guard, Foley, for Cora’s father. Rafe gives them his room upstairs, where Josie sketches blessings on twenty-four paper squares; the one Cora draws for Rafe is blank, and a draft blows most of the rest into the fire. Rafe teaches Josie penta, five suits, one for each element, and tells her about his mother, his torz stepfather and the half brother on a farm. She admits that she is Princess Josetta, and that Cora is Princess Corene; five years ago the dying King Vernon proved to have fathered only his youngest wife’s second baby.

In the morning Cora’s father is sitting at Rafe’s table, very still, in dark clothes, with grey eyes: Darien Serlast, the regent. His opening line is “I believe you have something of mine. And I want it back.” Rafe snorts at his stiff thanks, and Darien’s fury startles even Josetta. Soon afterwards a pouch reaches Rafe: gold, and three rings of copper, silver and gold carved with imagination, courage and intelligence, Corene’s own birth blessings. For the first time in his life Rafe has blessings of his own.

A long-haired gambler deals cards at a lamplit tavern table late at night while a woman across the table stares at his partly uncovered ear. — **II · 1 Penta at Samson’s** In a southside tavern in Chialto that never closes, the professional gambler Rafe Adova plays penta through the night against strangers he privately calls the Loser, Sad Boy and Sweela Woman. A lock slips from his ponytail, he absently pushes it back, and Sweela Woman stares at his right ear: its outer curve sliced into five triangular points, each set with a small gold hoop. The book takes until chapter sixteen to explain the marks.

A tangle-haired red-headed girl huddles in a tavern booth nursing her ankle while a man stands between her and a burly thug, a tavern keeper at his side. — **II · 2 Cora in the Wrong Bar** A runaway girl with a sprained ankle and a wild mess of red hair has slipped into the bar and is trying to make herself invisible. When Becko, a burly, black-haired hunti thug, and his partner go for her, Rafe throws down his cards, and he and the tavern keeper, Samson, face them down. She calls herself Cora and is trying to find her sister. Rafe offers to sit with her until someone comes, and she falls asleep in the booth.

A tall fair-haired young woman in white steps into a lamplit tavern on a gust of night wind, looking toward a booth where a red-haired girl reaches out to her. — **II · 3 Josie Walks In** Cora’s sister arrives at last on a swirl of fresh wind: Josie, tall, ashy-blond, dressed in white, with eyes only for Cora. Cora explains that she jumped from her stepfather Dominic’s elaymotive to get away from him, and Josie has sent her guard, Foley, to fetch Cora’s father. Rafe gives the sisters his room upstairs. Before morning Josie admits she is Princess Josetta, and that Cora is Princess Corene.

Two young women and a man sit at a small table strewn with paper squares as a draft lifts the papers toward a hearth fire and the red-haired girl holds up a blank square. — **II · 4 A Square Left Blank** Upstairs, Josetta makes forty-eight paper squares, twenty-four to a sheet, and sketches a blessing in each, three extraordinary blessings and three ghosts among them. Rafe has no birth blessings and pulls only ghost coins at the temples; when Cora draws a square for him, it is blank. A draft from the door blows most of the squares into the fire. Later Rafe teaches Josetta penta, a game of five suits, one for each element.

A still, black-clad man sits with folded hands at a tavern table in morning light, looking up at a rumpled long-haired man, while a fair-haired woman pauses on the stair behind. — **II · 5 Something of Mine** In the morning a still man in dark clothes with grey eyes is waiting at Rafe’s table: Darien Serlast, the regent, Corene’s father. He opens with “I believe you have something of mine. And I want it back.” When Rafe snorts at his stiff thanks, Darien’s fury startles Josetta. Soon afterwards a pouch reaches Rafe holding gold and three rings of copper, silver and gold: Corene’s own birth blessings, imagination, courage and intelligence.

Movement 2

Ghost Coins

At breakfast in his house on the north edge of the city, Darien scolds Josetta for walking the slums with only her guard, Foley, and she holds her ground. Shopping around the Plaza of Women, the princesses stop at the blind sisters, seers who trade in secrets, and Corene pays with one of her own: Dominic Wollimer has backed her into walls and come into her room. In return she learns that her mother, Queen Alys, is carrying Dominic’s child. At a small temple Josetta draws new blessings for her ringless sister.

Alys arrives at Darien’s house to defend her husband. Darien reminds her that Corene is seventeen and Dominic forty, and married to Alys. Afterwards Zoe, the coru prime and now Darien’s wife, tells Corene plainly that her mother is not a good person, and that her Serlast blood makes her beautiful, clever and brave.

Back at her shelter, which she runs with Callie and Callie’s son Bo, its first lodgers, Josetta finds that the regent has sent two guards, Caze and Sorbin. That night they carry in an unconscious man from an alley, with a long gash across his left ribs and an ear half torn from his head. It is Rafe. Someone has tried to cut off the ear as a souvenir. He tells Josetta, wryly, that “if I was going to be an oddity, I’d be an oddity with pride”, and she tells him to embrace what makes him different.

While he mends he plays penta with the shelter’s guests for dried beans. In the tiny temple at the east edge of the shelter Josetta pulls Rafe’s blessings for him and comes up with synthesis, time and triumph, all three extraordinary blessings at once, which she has never seen happen. She talks him into investing his windfall and takes him to Kayle Dochenza, the elay prime, who invented the smoker cars. Kayle tells Rafe that neither he nor his parents were born in Welce. Rafe offers him every coin he has ever earned for a ride in a flying machine.

Over lunch Josetta’s mother, Queen Seterre, urges her to forget Foley and consider rich men from the Five Families. Two summers ago Josetta told Foley she loved him, and he was appalled. Rafe moves out of the shelter, but promises to come back for supper every firstday.

Two guards carry an unconscious long-haired man into a lamplit shelter infirmary while a fair-haired woman pulls back a curtain and an older woman hurries over with a basin. — **II · 7 Carried In from the Alley** Josetta runs her southside shelter with Callie and Callie’s son Bo, its first lodgers, and the regent has lately sent her two guards, Caze and Sorbin. That night they carry in an unconscious man from an alley, with a long gash across his ribs and an ear half torn from his head. It is Rafe. Josetta and Callie work on him for half an hour. Only much later does Darien admit why he sent those guards.

In a tiny lamplit temple, a fair-haired woman opens her hand on three small coins beside a barrel, delighted, while a long-haired man looks on bemused. — **II · 8 Synthesis, Time and Triumph** While Rafe mends at her shelter, Josetta shows him its tiny temple, at the east edge of the building, and offers to pull his blessings for him. She opens her hand on synthesis, time and triumph: all three of the extraordinary blessings at once, a draw she has never seen. It will happen again: a man who pulls only ghosts for himself gets the extraordinary coins when others draw for him.

A thin, white-haired inventor in smudged spectacles peers at a long-haired visitor in a cluttered workshop where a small silver model of a winged machine hangs from a beam. — **II · 9 The Elay Prime** Kayle Dochenza is thin as a rail, with white-blond hair as unkempt as his clothes and glasses smudged with fingerprints. He invented the smoker cars that have gone from curiosity to commonplace in five years, and now he wants machines that fly. He tells Rafe that neither Rafe nor his parents were born in Welce. Rafe offers him every coin he has ever earned for one ride in a flying machine.

Movement 3

Changeday

At court Queen Romelle has again brought Mally, the decoy princess, instead of the four-year-old heir, Odelia; Corene notices that Romelle never holds the child. Late that night Darien, Zoe and the primes Mirti, Nelson and Taro confer. Taro says Romelle was sent a lock of Odelia’s hair as a threat. Afterwards Zoe concludes that Taro was lying.

Restless, Rafe buys presents for Josetta (fish charms, a tiny silver flute, a hardwood changeday skull), and at a crowded firstday supper she gives him three rings stamped with triumph, synthesis and time for the silver chain that holds Corene’s. Kayle shows him the aeromotive works in the countryside, where closed roads serve as running ramps. Kayle has lost seven pilots. The job needs, Rafe suggests, a gambler who has stood on a mountaintop; Kayle agrees.

An unhappy letter from Steff sends Rafe west to his stepfather’s farm, where Bors’s wife, Nerri, is heavily pregnant again. Bors, big, brown and unhurried, tells him that his mother always believed his father was a foreigner, that she felt safe on the farm, and that she spoke Coziquela more fluently than Welchin.

In Chialto, Prince Ghyaneth of Berringey rides in on a white horse with at least fifty soldiers in gold and white, wearing a cloth-of-gold turban set with an amethyst the size of an egg. At the reception Corene confides that she wants to know where she is supposed to belong. At dinner the prince asks for Josetta on his left, explains Berringey’s harsh rules of succession in Coziquela, and goes cold when she mentions Malinqua.

When Josetta tells Zoe and Corene about her gambler’s three extraordinary blessings, Zoe resolves to meet him. Then Alys comes back to demand that Corene take back what she told the blind sisters, because she needs Dominic. Corene refuses. Zoe threatens to boil the blood in Alys’s veins and shoves her out.

At a busy supper table a fair-haired woman lifts a tiny silver flute to her lips beside an unwrapped bracelet and carved skull, while a man beside her holds three small rings. — **II · 10 Firstday Gifts** Back at Samson’s and restless, Rafe shops for presents for an elay woman: a bracelet hung with fish-shaped charms, a tiny chased-silver flute set with topaz, and a hardwood skull for Quinnahunti changeday. At the crowded firstday supper he gives them to Josetta. She gives him three small rings stamped with triumph, synthesis and time, to hang on his silver chain beside Corene’s.

In a stone-floored farm kitchen a long-haired man talks across the table with a big brown farmer while a pregnant woman listens from the hearth and a gangly youth leans in the doorway. — **II · 11 The Farm in the West** An unhappy letter from his half brother Steff sends Rafe on the long road west to his stepfather’s farm, where Bors’s wife, Nerri, is heavily pregnant. Bors, big, brown and unhurried, tells Rafe that his mother always believed his father was a foreigner, that she felt safe on the farm, and that she spoke Coziquela more fluently than Welchin. Steff, gangly and nearly Rafe’s height, is restless on the land.

A haughty prince in a gold turban set with a huge violet stone rides a white horse up a sunlit avenue at the head of a column of soldiers in gold and white. — **II · 12 The Prince of Berringey** Prince Ghyaneth of Berringey rides into Chialto on a white horse at the head of at least fifty soldiers in gold and white, wearing a cloth-of-gold turban set with an amethyst the size of an egg. At dinner he asks for Josetta at his left, explains in Coziquela his country’s harsh rules of succession, and goes cold when she mentions Malinqua. His turban, Zoe later points out, always hides his ears.

A tall dark-haired woman in blue marches a furious red-haired woman toward the door of a high entrance hall while a red-haired girl stands rigid at the foot of the stairs. — **II · 13 Zoe Shows Alys the Door** Alys comes back to demand that Corene take back what she told the blind sisters, because she needs Dominic. Corene refuses. Zoe, the coru prime and Darien’s wife, who has already told Corene that the Serlast blood in her makes her beautiful, clever and brave, threatens to boil the blood in Alys’s veins and shoves her out.

Movement 4

The Pilot

At Kayle’s port facility Rafe watches a silver aeromotive take off and crash. He drives a smoker car to the wreck; the pilot, Arven, lives, with two broken legs and a broken collarbone. Rafe decides to fly anyway and starts training, while Josetta tries hard not to look frightened. Darien, meanwhile, buys the mortgage on Dominic’s house and leaves sealed letters with the primes and queens. Ghyaneth leaves for Soeche-Tas, Romelle decamps with her entourage, and the council argues about protecting Odelia.

Zoe and Corene turn up at the shelter while Rafe is there. Drawn for him, the extraordinary blessings come up again. He puts his hand in Zoe’s so that she can read his blood, and she finds him close kin to Ghyaneth. Berringese heirs, she reasons, all have marked ears hidden under their turbans, and his mother must have fled with him; Rafe realises the men in the alley saw the marks. Darien comes to Kayle’s for Rafe and holds a council. Nelson, the sweela prime, can hear Ghyaneth in Rafe’s voice, and proposes a story to explain the guards Rafe now needs: Princess Josetta has fallen for an aeromotive pilot. Josetta agrees. When Foley asks whether she will really be pretending, she tells him maybe not.

In Rafe’s new rooms in the port, over cards, she says it outright:

“You can hardly be surprised to hear that I like you, Rafe Adova”

She gives him her own blessing rings, beauty, grace and joy. His first long flight carries him farther than Kayle expected, out over the ocean, until a violent wind rocks the machine and he crashes. He comes round in the hangar: Kayle called up the wind to keep the crash from being worse. Josetta arrives radiating calm. They trade promises (he will see Kayle’s physician, she will watch his next flight) and become lovers. Shinn has named Rafe’s first adventure in an aeromotive her favourite scene in the book.

A silver flying machine with very long wings lifts off the end of a long straight road while two men watch from the roadside and mechanics run after it. — **II · 14 The Exhibition Flight** At Kayle’s port facility Rafe watches a silver aeromotive take off, its pilot’s face wound in pale fabric. “He believed he could fly, and so he very probably would.” Then it crashes. Rafe drives a smoker car to the wreck; the pilot, Arven, lives, with two broken legs and a broken collarbone. Kayle’s machines have crashed before, and he needs a pilot. Rafe decides it will be him.

A dark-haired woman in blue holds a man’s hand with her eyes half closed while a red-haired girl leans in to look at his ear, cut into points and hung with small gold earrings. — **II · 15 Zoe Reads His Blood** Zoe and Corene turn up at the shelter while Rafe is there, and when the women draw blessings for him from a small keg, the extraordinary ones come up again. Then he puts his hand in Zoe’s so the coru prime can read his blood. He is close kin to Ghyaneth. Berringese heirs, Zoe reasons, all have marked ears hidden under their turbans, and his mother must have fled with him. Rafe realises the men in the alley saw the markings.

A fair-haired woman in white and a solid, solemn guardsman stand a pace apart outside a long stone hall in low golden light, he questioning, she half-smiling. — **II · 16 The Cover Story** Darien holds a council at Kayle’s. Nelson, the sweela prime, can hear Ghyaneth in Rafe’s voice, and proposes a story to explain the guards Rafe now needs: Princess Josetta has fallen for an aeromotive pilot. Josetta agrees. Foley, whom she once told she loved and who did not love her back, asks whether she will really be pretending. Maybe not, she answers.

In lamplit rooms above a harbour, a fair-haired woman stands by a card table holding out three small rings on her palm to a seated man who looks up at her. — **II · 17 Cards in the Port Rooms** In Rafe’s new rooms in the port, over a game of cards, Josetta says it plainly: “You can hardly be surprised to hear that I like you, Rafe Adova”. She gives him her own birth-blessing rings, beauty, grace and joy, to hang beside Corene’s and the three she gave him at supper. He now wears nine blessings on his chain, and not one of them was his at birth.

A small silver flying machine with long wings tilts steeply in a violent gust high above a choppy grey-green sea, its wrapped-faced pilot gripping the controls. — **II · 18 Wind over the Sea** Rafe’s first long flight takes him farther than Kayle expected, out over the ocean, until a violent wind rocks the aeromotive and he crashes. He comes round in the hangar to learn that Kayle, the elay prime, called up a wind to keep the crash from being worse. Josetta arrives radiating calm. They trade promises, he to see Kayle’s physician and she to watch his next flight, and become lovers.

Movement 5

The Heir in the West

Darien takes Zoe, baby Celia, Josetta, Corene and Rafe west in a convoy of elaymotives to see Odelia for himself. On the road penta becomes an obsession, and Corene asks Josetta point-blank whether she is in love with Rafe Adova. At Taro’s estate in the western provinces they find Odelia at last, kneeling with her eyes closed, humming. She never speaks, and she has been this way since before she was two. Taro admits that the lock-of-hair threat was invented to explain the choices they had made, and Darien makes him concede that her condition is unlikely to pass.

Back in Chialto, Steff turns up looking for Rafe and attaches himself to Rafe and the princesses. Rafe flies the K5 along the road, passing elaymotives and a horse-drawn carriage, and Steff decides he wants to be a pilot too.

In a carriage cabin rolling past sunlit fields, a fair-haired woman and a red-haired girl play cards while a dark-haired woman beside them holds a wide-eyed baby. — **II · 19 The Road West** Darien takes Zoe, baby Celia, Josetta, Corene and Rafe west in a convoy of elaymotives to see the heir, Odelia, for himself. On the road west penta becomes an obsession, Celia follows the games with huge unblinking eyes, and Corene asks Josetta point-blank whether she is in love with Rafe Adova.

A small dark-curled girl kneels alone with her eyes closed in a sunny, bare room while a big man stands quietly behind her and two visitors stop in the doorway. — **II · 20 The Heir at Last** At Taro’s estate in the western provinces the visitors find Odelia at last, four years old, kneeling with her eyes closed, humming. She never speaks, and she has been this way since before she was two. Taro admits that the lock-of-hair threat was invented to explain the choices they had made, and Darien makes him concede that her condition is unlikely to pass. The succession is open again.

Movement 6

The Empress

Malinqua’s ships sail into the harbour under full colours. When Darien names the empress, Filomara Marita Subriella, Rafe hides his shock: Subriella was his mother’s name. Filomara has no living children and wants a Welchin princess for one of her nephews. Corene volunteers, Darien refuses, and Zoe hauls Corene out of the room. Darien tells Josetta that he saw Rafe’s ear on the very first night, looked into the royal house of Berringey, and sent Caze and Sorbin to the shelter to keep Rafe alive.

Josetta, Rafe, Steff and Corene show the empress around Chialto, including a temple where she draws blessings. Outside it, riders attack. Foley shoves Josetta inside and Sorbin shields her. Rafe, dodging two charging riders, goes down, shot through the shoulder. Kneeling over him in the dirt, Josetta hears the empress whisper:

“Lerafi Filoman Kolavar … My grandson.”

In the palace Darien and Filomara fight it out while Steff and Corene tend Rafe. Steff is Filomara’s grandson too. Corene wants to go to Malinqua, and when Steff suggests she marry Rafe, everyone shouts no. Rafe refuses to go to Malinqua at all. Josetta tells him he should visit before he decides, and privately dreads that he will never come back.

The primes and queens fight over the succession. The candidates are Josetta as the eldest, Corene, Romelle’s elder daughter Natalie, or the baby Alys is carrying, whose father Dominic is Vernon’s nearest kin. Corene admits to Josetta that she had wanted to be queen, but knows no one would ever trust her on the throne.

A fleet of tall-masted ships streaming long bright pennants sails into a busy harbour of pale stone quays under a clear sky. — **II · 21 The Empress Sails In** Malinqua’s ships sail into the harbour under full colours. When Darien names the empress, Filomara Marita Subriella, Rafe hides his shock: Subriella was his mother’s name. Filomara has no living children and has come for a Welchin princess to marry one of her nephews. Corene volunteers, Darien refuses, and Zoe hauls Corene out of the room.

Two cloaked riders charge down a cobbled street as a guardsman shoves a fair-haired woman back through a temple doorway and a man in the street twists aside from the horses. — **II · 22 Riders at the Temple** Josetta, Rafe, Steff and Corene show the empress around Chialto, from the cobbler’s shop of Zoe’s friends Melvin and Ilene to a temple where Filomara draws blessings. Outside the temple, riders attack. Foley shoves Josetta inside and Sorbin shields her. Rafe, dodging two charging riders, goes down, shot through the shoulder.

A wounded man lies in the dust holding his shoulder while a fair-haired woman kneels beside him and a stern grey-haired empress stands over them, stricken. — **II · 23 My Grandson** Kneeling over Rafe in the dirt, Josetta hears the empress whisper: “Lerafi Filoman Kolavar … My grandson.” Rafe is the son of Filomara’s daughter Subriella and of a Berringese prince, which makes him an heir to two foreign kingdoms. In the palace Darien and Filomara fight it out, and Steff turns out to be her grandson too.

Movement 7

Royal Airs

Josetta and Rafe try to make every minute last. Then Berringese soldiers storm Kayle’s works, hunting for Lerafi Filoman Kolavar. The scientists and mechanics fight back with poles, chains and a blowtorch; Josetta sprays a canister of noxious gas into soldiers’ faces; Rafe fights his way to her, and is taken.

He wakes on Ghyaneth’s ship. His cousin tells him that his father took his own life, as Berringese custom says an heir should, on the night Rafe’s mother fled with him. Welchin ships give chase with Kayle and Zoe aboard, and the primes of air and water stop the Berringese ship dead on a satin-smooth sea. Ghyaneth wrenches back Rafe’s head and slashes at his throat. Rafe yanks a cord on his pilot’s escape device, and it blasts him into the sky. He comes down in the sea and swims for land with his hands bound until the water turns warm and lifts him, and a Welchin navy ship picks him up. Ghyaneth has gone into the sea as well, and, as Darien says afterwards, “If a man is in the water, he is Zoe’s to command.”

Darien’s bargain closes the hunt: Rafe will seek neither throne. Zoe shows Ghyaneth that she can make his blood obey her, and Rafe swears it: “I will stay in Welce or know my life is forfeit.” The prince is sent home with fair winds. Corene asks Josetta whether she wants to marry Rafe. Maybe, Josetta says, and she is very glad indeed that he will not be leaving for Malinqua.

The primes vote that Darien should be king and baby Celia his heir, which tangles Zoe’s position as a prime who cannot give up her property. Casting her own vote in front of everyone, Zoe tells Darien that she knew she did not want to marry Vernon, but she did want to marry him. At the Malinquese farewell Steff stays close to his grandmother: he is going to Malinqua, and Rafe is staying. The Berringese boats sail. Walking home under the gaslights, Foley teases Josetta that she no longer has to keep Rafe safe by pretending to be in love with him. And in the last pages Corene, overlooked in all the talk of crowns and heirs, runs away, which is where Jeweled Fire picks her up.

In a vast hangar a fair-haired woman sprays a hissing jet of vapour from a canister at two soldiers in gold and white while mechanics swing poles and a blowtorch flares. — **II · 24 Raid on the Works** Josetta and Rafe try to make every minute last. Then Berringese soldiers storm Kayle’s works, hunting for Lerafi Filoman Kolavar. The scientists and mechanics fight back with poles, chains and a blowtorch, and Josetta sprays a canister of noxious gas into soldiers’ faces. Rafe fights his way to her and is taken. He wakes on Ghyaneth’s ship.

A man with bound hands shoots straight up into the sky in a burst of white smoke from the deck of a becalmed ship while a prince in a gold turban staggers back below with a knife. — **II · 25 The Cord** Ghyaneth tells his cousin that Rafe’s father took his own life, as Berringese custom says an heir should, the night Rafe’s mother fled with him. Welchin ships give chase with Kayle and Zoe aboard, and the Berringese ship stops dead on a satin-smooth sea. Ghyaneth wrenches back Rafe’s head and slashes at his throat. Rafe yanks a cord on his pilot’s escape device, and it blasts him into the sky.

A soaked man with bound hands floats on a glowing, gently lifting swell of sea at golden hour as a tall-masted ship turns toward him and lowers a boat. — **II · 26 Zoe’s to Command** Rafe comes down in the sea and swims toward land with his hands still bound, until the water turns warm and lifts him, and a Welchin navy ship picks him up. Ghyaneth has gone into the sea as well, and as Darien tells Rafe afterwards, “If a man is in the water, he is Zoe’s to command.”

In a cramped ship’s cabin a dark-haired woman in blue leans across a table to touch her fingertip to the temple of a soaked, bareheaded prince with bound hands, held by two men, while a bruised man in plain clothes watches. — **II · 27 Darien’s Bargain** Darien’s bargain ends the hunt: Rafe will seek neither throne. In a crowded cabin of the rescue ship, Zoe sets a fingertip to Ghyaneth’s temple and shows him that she can make his blood obey her. Rafe swears, “I will stay in Welce or know my life is forfeit.” Then Ghyaneth is sent home with fair winds. Asked by Corene whether she wants to marry Rafe, Josetta says maybe, and that she is very glad he is not leaving for Malinqua.

In a council room a dark-haired woman in blue stands at a long table smiling across at a man in black seated at its head, while two older men at the table turn to look at her. — **II · 28 A King and an Heir** With Odelia unable to rule, the primes vote that Darien should be king and baby Celia his heir, passing over Josetta, Corene, Natalie and Alys’s unborn child. That tangles Zoe’s position as a prime who cannot give up her property. Casting her own vote in front of everyone, Zoe tells Darien that she knew she did not want to marry Vernon, but she did want to marry him.

A fair-haired woman laughs as she walks up a gaslit city street at night beside a solemn guardsman who is smiling sideways at her. — **II · 29 Under the Gaslights** At the Malinquese farewell Steff stays close to his grandmother: he will go to Malinqua, and Rafe will stay. The Berringese boats sail. Walking home under the gaslights, Foley teases Josetta that she no longer has to keep Rafe safe by pretending to be in love with him. In the last pages Corene, overlooked in all the talk of crowns and heirs, runs away.

The elements in this book

Josetta is elay, which the book’s own front matter glosses as air and soul. She knows where every temple in Chialto is and has a knack for pulling blessings, and her own birth blessings, beauty, grace and joy, all sit in elay’s column on Shinn’s blessing sheet.
Rafe has no element. He was born without blessings and pulls only ghost coins, the blank ones. When others draw blessing coins for him they come up synthesis, time and triumph, the three extraordinary blessings that belong to no element. By the end he wears nine rings on a chain, every one a gift: Corene’s imagination, courage and intelligence; Josetta’s gift of synthesis, time and triumph; and Josetta’s own beauty, grace and joy.
The primes have real power. Kayle, the elay prime, can promise calm weather for a flight and calls up a wind to soften Rafe’s crash; with Zoe he stops a ship at sea. Zoe, the coru prime (water and blood), reads kinship through the skin, commands a man in the water and can make a stranger’s blood obey her. Nelson, the sweela prime, reads people and hears Ghyaneth in Rafe’s voice. Together the primes choose the next king.
The supporting cast’s elements. Corene’s red hair marks her as sweela; Darien is “pure hunti”, and Josetta’s mother, Queen Seterre, is hunti too; Bors is torz; Steff is coru.
Penta, the card game that runs through the romance, has five suits, one for each element (fish for coru, skulls for hunti, roses for torz, horseshoes for sweela, and flutes), plus three wildcards that stand for random blessings and nine trumps. Rafe’s presents to Josetta (fish charms, a flute, a skull) match three of the suits.
The calendar runs in five quintiles named for the elements, separated by changedays: Quinnelay (early to deep winter, its changeday the New Year), Quinncoru, Quinnahunti (late spring to mid summer, whose changeday fills the city with skeletons), Quinnatorz and Quinnasweela.
Colour. This book names no element colours. The page’s white-and-pearl border follows the code the series spells out later, in Whispering Wood: white for elay.

Continuity notes

Five years on from Troubled Waters: Zoe is coru prime, married to Darien, with a baby daughter, Celia; Darien is regent; Corene is seventeen.
Josetta ends the book Rafe’s lover, not his wife (asked by Corene whether she wants to marry him, she says maybe), and is not chosen as heir.
Rafe is revealed as Lerafi Filoman Kolavar, grandson of Empress Filomara through her daughter Subriella, and son of a Berringese prince who took his own life. He swears to stay in Welce and keeps flying for Kayle. Over the book he is slashed and has his ear half torn off in an alley, crashes an aeromotive, is shot through the shoulder and is beaten by Ghyaneth’s men.
Darien is chosen by the primes to be king, with Celia as his heir; the crowning is not in this book (it opens Whispering Wood).
Odelia is judged unsuitable to rule. Mally, the decoy princess who stands in for her at court, returns in Unquiet Land.
Alys is still carrying Dominic Wollimer’s child at the end; the baby is due by Quinnelay.
Steff, Rafe’s half brother and Filomara’s other grandson, sails for Malinqua with her. Filomara also leaves with an order for three elaymotives from Kayle.
Ghyaneth goes home under Darien’s terms.
Corene runs away at the very end. Jeweled Fire opens with her a stowaway on the empress’s ship, with Foley, Josetta’s guard in this book, at her side.

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