The Faithless

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Copyright © 2023 by Cherae Clark Excerpt from The Lost War copyright © 2019 by King Lot Publishing Ltd. Excerpt from The Foxglove King copyright © 2023 by Hannah Whitten Cover design by Lauren Panepinto Cover illustration by Tommy Arnold Cover copyright © 2023 by Hachette Book Group, Inc. Map by Tim Paul Author photograph by Jovita McCleod Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. Orbit Hachette Book Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10104 orbitbooks.net First Edition: March 2023 Simultaneously published in Great Britain by Orbit Orbit is an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The Orbit name and logo are trademarks of Little, Brown Book Group Limited. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to hachettespeakersbureau.com or email [email protected]. Orbit books may be purchased in bulk for business, educational, or promotional use. For information, please contact your local bookseller or the Hachette Book Group Special Markets Department at [email protected]. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Clark, C. L. (Cherae L.), author. Title: The faithless / C.L. Clark. Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Orbit, 2023. | Series: Magic of the lost ; book 2 Identifiers: LCCN 2022026622 | ISBN 9780316542760 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780316542838 (ebook) Subjects: LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Novels. Classification: LCC PS3603.L356626 F35 2023 | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20220609 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022026622 ISBNs: 9780316542760 (trade paperback), 9780316542838 (ebook) E3-20230128-JV-NF-ORI To my ’armoury, S and Jess Contents Cover Map Part 1: The Board Chapter 1: On Mourning Chapter 2: A Schism Chapter 3: Old Friends Chapter 4: Beasts Chapter 5: On Strategy Chapter 6: On Charity Chapter 7: A Wound Chapter 8: A Scar Chapter 9: An Open Hand Chapter 10: An Education Chapter 11: New Friends A Healer’s Interlude 1 Part 2: Scholars and Nobles and Priests Chapter 12: Faux Pas Chapter 13: The Bear Queen Chapter 14: Among the Roses Chapter 15: On Self-Interest Chapter 16: A Cage Chapter 17: Scavengers Chapter 18: Of Heroes Chapter 19: Fields of Gold Chapter 20: A Precipice Chapter 21: Merely Players A Healer’s Interlude 2 Part 3: Pawns and Chevaliers Chapter 22: The World, Upside Down Chapter 23: A Wound, Reopened Chapter 24: The Desperate Chapter 25: A Spark Chapter 26: Gifts Chapter 27: Of Mirrors Chapter 28: Bloody Knuckles Chapter 29: The Longest Night Chapter 30: A Clenched Fist Chapter 31: Of Walls Chapter 32: Of Agony A Healer’s Interlude 3 PART 4: Queens and Kings Chapter 33: The Beginning of the Endgame Chapter 34: The Queen’s Gambit Chapter 35: Poisons Chapter 36: Many Legs Chapter 37: Plucking the Rose Chapter 38: The Princess Chapter 39: On Self-Interest (Reprise) Chapter 40: Not the Princess Chapter 41: The Death Knell Chapter 42: A Family (Variation) Chapter 43: Victory Chapter 44: Welcome, Jolly Soldier Epilogue: Not the Princess (Reprise) Acknowledgments Meet the Author Also by C. L. Clark Begin Reading Table of Contents PART 1 THE BOARD CHAPTER 1 ON MOURNING It wasn’t every day that Luca woke from nightmares of burning ships and the funeral pyres of her city, but it was most days. It wasn’t every day that Luca woke with a spasm of pain shooting through her right leg and up her spine, but that was also most days. She groaned and shifted until she was on her back. Her arm flopped limply against something warm with a fleshy slap. It wasn’t every day that Luca felt the poke of someone else in her bed, either. Not every day, and not all that often, and as she unstuck her body from the sweat of their closeness, she remembered why. She reached groggily for the cup on the night table beside her bed. Her mouth came away full of warm, stale wine. She clamped her mouth tight rather than spray it across the room in surprise. The figure beside her groaned at the sound of her gagging. “Luca?” “Ugh—looking for water.” She rolled back and placed a hand on Sabine’s pale, solid waist. Little freckles dotted the skin around her shoulders in the gray dawn light. Sabine snorted. “You’ll need more than water, I should think.” “How do you mean?” Sabine, marquise de Durfort, turned into Luca’s touch. The back of her short dark hair stuck up at a ridiculous angle. She raised an eyebrow that made her look even more scandalous. It belied the tenderness of Sabine’s hand snaking around Luca’s own ribs. “The funeral?” “Oh. That.” As if it weren’t the first thing on Luca’s mind. Sabine’s hand drifted down to Luca’s left thigh, and she curled into Luca. “You’ll do wonderfully.” She kissed Luca’s hip. “Your Highness.” “Of course I will.” Of course she would. It also wasn’t every day that Luca spoke at a funeral for hundreds of citizens she had murdered. Outside, the swelter of summer, which reminded her all too much of Qazāl, had given way to autumn breezes. The trees in La Chaise’s greatest public courtyard were just beginning to turn colors, though the branches still clung to the leaves desperately. Not unlike the way Luca clutched her cane with nerves right now. Inside the Grand Hall of the Palais La Chaise, however, the swelter continued. Two fires burned