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"There is a library below," he said. "Apparently."

CHAPTER 17

Unbroken

RYARAN’S MEMORY STONE

The memory did not ease me in this time.

My mother had returned to Yorali. She went straight to the place where she and the mages had hidden the real amulet. The copy remained where Orsin believed the original was.

She took the true amulet, wrapped it in cloth, and slipped it into the hidden pocket of her gown.

Then she went to meet Orsin in the Hall of Punishment.

She was still weak. I could see it in the way she held herself. She had given birth days ago. Her magic was barely there, a flicker where there had been a flame.

Orsin sat at the far end of the hall. Beside him stood a man whose purpose was written in every line of him. Alzan. I did not need to be told his name to understand what he was for.

"Where are the Saren children?" Orsin said.

My mother said nothing.

"What did you do with them?"

Nothing.

His expression did not change.

"I will kill you." He said it calmly.

"Where is the child you bore?"

"Dead," she said.

He smiled. "You are young and beautiful and the Queen Heir of Alarna. And you have no heir." He let that sit. "The problem with upsetting me is that there must always be consequences." He leaned forward. "I will give you one chance, Ryaran. Tell me where those children are. Tell me where the Sarens are. Tell me where my child is. Because I think you are lying about that too."

"I am the Queen Heir of Alarna," she said. Her voice was steady. "You cannot kill me. There will be war. And our country is more powerful than yours."

He smiled again. "You're right. There would be war." A pause. "But your country will never be more powerful than mine. Not while I hold the amulet."

He stood.

"Do you know what weakens a royal crown?"

He walked toward her slowly.

"Lack of succession."

He called Alzan forward. Three other men came with him. My mother did not run. She stood where she was and I understood she had already calculated that running would accomplish nothing and had decided to spend what she had left on something else.

They held her down.

"Normally I don't like to make a mess," Orsin said. "But I think I'll do the honors myself." He looked down at her. "Let this be a lesson."

I did not look away. The memory did not let me.

She screamed as he plunged the knife through her abdomen and began carving. She screamed as he ripped her womb out triumphantly and said "the future of Alarna, now reduced to garbage." She screamed and she screamed at him to give it back to her and he smiled and threw it into the pit.