Path of Bones Read Online Free Page A

his armies and resources and seized his Empire before he’d ruled it for even a fortnight.  In the process she secured the unyielding loyalty of all the Generals and landed nobles he’d planned to betray, and after she let the rapist bastard suffer in a prison cell for a year she marched him onto the newly finished high tower of Kai-Ren Thoth and used the Veil to torture him while he begged for mercy.  After a few days she grew bored and threw his grisly remains into the sea. 
    Her devotion to her people was heralded, and songs were written about her.  Her desire to punish her father for his injustices won her the hearts of the Empire, and exposing his intended treachery won her the support of Jlantria’s most powerful military leaders and families.  Her mastery of the Veil earned her control of the Veilwardens, and her desire to burn out the evils of the world in Corvinia’s name ensured the loyalty of the One Goddess’s church.  Within ten years no one assumed her rule was ordained by anything short of Corvinia herself.
    The Empress lashed out at any perceived threat to Jlantrian solidarity, and with each conquest she added new territories and vast sums of accumulated wealth.  As time went by Azaean acquired magic and riches and knowledge, and her command of the Veil grew.  She came to master a force which would allow her to live forever.
    If it doesn’t kill me first.
    Llandrix filed away her most recent attempt at poetry – unfinished, as so many of her projects had been as of late – and left the room.  There were no doors to her private chambers, just a cutgate cast into the wall with red ink.  The portal was attenuated so only she could use it.  Ruby light bled across her vision, and for a moment she felt weightless as she passed through a storm of smoke and blood.
    She emerged from the light and stepped into a great pale room filled with moisture and light.  The marbled chamber was kept warm by the constant spill of magically heated water from angelic stone mouths, and curtains of steam filled the space from floor to ceiling.  A pair of servants stood waiting.  They’d been blinded when they’d entered her service so they would never see her unclothed. 
    Azaean disrobed and stepped into the water.  She knew very well that Argus Saam’siir waited in the Sanctum – she’d sent her summons, after all – but she intended to make him wait, for such was her right. 
    She unbound her hair and dipped backwards into the water.  The pain she’d battled just minutes before was all but forgotten.  Her mind and soul were awash with thoughts of the future.  She stretched her arms out and bathed herself – she never allowed anyone to touch her except her lovers – and gazed out the open window, which afforded her a spectacular view of the labyrinthine streets of Ral Tanneth. 
    It was her city, but it was just one of many, and several had been lost during the Rift War.  Some had been devastated, while others had been allowed to go free because her armies no longer had the resources to hold them.
    No longer , she thought.
    Llandrix was slowly claiming back her Empire.  Her control over the Veil grew stronger each day, and before long she’d take revenge on Kala and Malath and every disgusting creature like them.  Losing the Bloodheart Stone had been disheartening, but she knew, given patience and time, that it would still be hers.
    She wouldn’t stop until she had everything she wanted.  It didn’t matter what price had to be paid.  There were plenty who she could sacrifice in order to secure her legacy.

     
     
     
     
     
    Three
     
    Argus paced the outer chamber of the Sanctum.  The pale walls were jagged and uneven, as if the entire room had been carved from the heart of a glacier.  A tall throne sat at one end of the room, while the other side was occupied by an enormous and irregularly shaped window which offered a breathtaking view of Ral Tanneth.  A long table along one wall was