Себастьян Кастелл - Traitor's Blade

‘What?’ Aline said, kicking me.

I laughed. ‘Your face.’

‘What about my face?’

I knelt down and hugged her. ‘It delights me.’

Her arms suddenly gripped tight around me and great sobs filled the air, but whether they were hers or mine, I could not tell.

‘I never even knew him,’ she said, ‘so why do I miss him?’

I wanted to tell her that I had known King Paelis better than my own self. I wanted to tell her that he was a man of humour, of dirty jokes and wicked smiles – that he had known darkness and despair, and emerged determined to light candles for everyone else. He read every book he had ever chanced to find, and from them he drew a thousand ideas. He had spent his life putting them in motion, but he never forgot his friends or his compassion. I wanted to tell her how she had got the name Aline.

But not now; not yet.

‘Well, first of all,’ I said, ‘he was a terrible swordsman and a lousy cook.’

I felt her cheek rub against mine as she started giggling uncontrollably, and that’s how we stayed for a few minutes more, while mad hopefulness surrounded us and spread like rainwater over the hard surface of the world.

In lieu of acknowledgements, here’s a seven-step plan to get published:

First, marry a librarian. My wife, Christina, knows more about books and readers than I ever will. She inspires me with her brilliance, her beauty and her limited patience for my whining.

Second, you need one of your best friends to be a better writer than you are. Eric Torin has read this story almost as many times as I have and every time has guided me in making it better.

Third, you need alpha readers. John de Castell, Terry Lanthier, Jessica Leigh, Clark-Bojin and Dennis Boulter were all kind enough to read this book long before it was worth reading.

Fourth, well, when you get to step four, you’ll know exactly what you have to do. It’s the hard part. It helps when you work with uniquely creative people like those at Vancouver Film School.

Fifth, once the book is getting close, you need people who can read your work and tell you what’s missing. Kathryn Zeller, Kim Tough and Samarth Chandola all provided great insight into those last few miles of writing.

Sixth, you need an agent who is savvy, supportive and smiles when you talk about your ridiculous ideas and expectations. Heather Adams of the HMA Literary Agency is my publishing guardian angel. I would never have met her if not for Christina (see step one: marry a librarian.)

Finally, you need a publisher and editor willing to get to know your story better than you do. The remarkable Jo Fletcher and Adrienne Kerr work with authors I idolise and yet they spend just as much time on my writing. Jo also once helped foil a bomb plot. Seriously.

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Jo Fletcher Books

An imprint of Quercus Editions Ltd.

55 Baker Street

7thFloor, South Block

London

W1U 8EW

Copyright © 2014 Sebastien De Castell

The moral right of Sebastien De Castell to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 78206 674 3 (TPB)

ISBN 978 1 78206 676 7 (eBOOK)

This book is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

You can find this and many other great books at:

www.quercusbooks.co.ukand

www.jofletcherbooks.com