The Queen's Price

BOOKS BY ANNE BISHOP The Others Series Written in Red Murder of Crows Vision in Silver Marked in Flesh Etched in Bone The World of the Others Lake Silence Wild Country Crowbones The Black Jewels Series Daughter of the Blood Heir to the Shadows Queen of the Darkness The Invisible Ring Dreams Made Flesh Tangled Webs The Shadow Queen Shalador’s Lady Twilight’s Dawn The Queen’s Bargain The Queen’s Weapons The Queen’s Price The Ephemera Series Sebastian Belladonna Bridge of Dreams The Tir Alainn Trilogy The Pillars of the World Shadows and Light The House of Gaian ACE Published by Berkley An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com Copyright © 2023 by Anne Bishop Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. ACE is a registered trademark and the A colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bishop, Anne, author. Title: The queen’s price : a Black Jewels novel / Anne Bishop. Description: New York : Ace, [2023] | Series: The Black Jewels Identifiers: LCCN 2022029114 (print) | LCCN 2022029115 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593337363 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593337387 (ebook) Subjects: LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Novels. Classification: LCC PS3552.I7594 Q45 2023 (print) | LCC PS3552.I7594 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54--dc23/eng/20220623 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029114 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029115 Cover design by Adam Auerbach Cover image of woman by People Images / Getty Images Book design by Alison Cnockaert, adapted for ebook by Molly Jeszke This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. pid_prh_6.0_142781532_c0_r0 For Patricia Briggs and Ann Peters JEWELS White Yellow Tiger Eye Rose Summer-sky Purple Dusk Opal* Green Sapphire Red Gray Ebon-gray Black *Opal is the dividing line between lighter and darker Jewels because it can be either. When making the Offering to the Darkness, a person can descend a maximum of three ranks from his/her Birthright Jewel. Example: Birthright White could descend to Rose. Note: The “Sc” in the terms “Scelt” and “Sceltie” is pronounced “Sh.” BLOOD HIERARCHY / CASTES Males landen—non-Blood of any race Blood male—a general term for all males of the Blood; also refers to any Blood male who doesn’t wear Jewels Warlord—a Jeweled male equal in status to a witch Prince—a Jeweled male equal in status to a Priestess or a Healer Warlord Prince—a dangerous, extremely aggressive Jeweled male; in status, slightly lower than a Queen Females landen—non-Blood of any race Blood female—a general term for all females of the Blood; refers mostly to any Blood female who doesn’t wear Jewels witch—a Blood female who wears Jewels but isn’t on one of the other hierarchical levels; also refers to any Jeweled female Healer—a witch who heals physical wounds and illnesses; equal in status to a Priestess or a Prince Priestess—a witch who cares for altars, Sanctuaries, and Dark Altars; witnesses handfasts and marriages; performs offerings; equal in status to a Healer or a Prince Black Widow—a witch who heals the mind; weaves the tangled webs of dreams and visions; is trained in illusions and poisons Queen—a witch who rules the Blood; is considered to be the land’s heart and the Blood’s moral center; as such, she is the focal point of their society Note: A list of characters in this story is provided at the back of the book. ONE SaDiablo Hall Daemonar Yaslana spread his dark membranous wings to their full span before letting them settle into a relaxed position—or as relaxed as he could manage, all things considered. Then he blew out a breath and raised a hand to knock on his uncle’s study door. The school that wasn’t officially a school had been in operation at SaDiablo Hall for a month. The instructors were still adjusting to teaching a very select group of thirty-six students as well as adjusting to being under the scrutiny of the Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince of Dhemlan, who was not only their employer but also the patriarch of the SaDiablo family—the wealthiest and most powerful family in the entire Realm of Kaeleer. The students were still adjusting to living in a massive gray stone building that, with all its wings and interior courtyards, could be mistaken for a small enclosed village, as well as dealing with that same Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince as an administrator and benefactor who was benign—most of the time—but could swing to cold, lethal rage in a heartbeat if provoked . . . and was their instructor in Craft and Protocol. All that adjusting meant someone had to act as leader or liaison or some other nonsense word that basically meant being the one who explained things to the adults when stuff happened. And who better to do the explaining than the Warlord Prince who wore a Green Birthright Jewel and was the nephew of that Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince? He never looked forward to explaining stuff. If his sister hadn’t been involved in this mess, he might have refused, but he couldn’t let Titian fly into a potential storm on her own. Cherish and protect. Those commitments were bred into the bones of Warlord Princes, so he had to get some answers without getting Titian into trouble. Daemonar gave the door a quick knock before he stepped into the room, leaving himself partially shielded by the door. He didn’t need the protection, not from his uncle—at least not right now—but it made him feel less . . . exposed. The man behind the large blackwood desk looked up from the papers he’d been