Shalador's Lady

ROC
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80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

    First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

    First Printing, March 2010

    Copyright © Anne Bishop, 2010
    All rights reserved

    REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

    Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data:

    Bishop, Anne.
    Shalador’s lady: a black jewels novel/Anne Bishop.
    p. cm.
    eISBN : 978-1-101-18588-9
    1. Witches—Fiction. I. Title.
    PS3552.I7594S54 2010
    813’.54—dc22 2009036065

    Set in Bembo

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FOR
NADINE, MERRI LEE, AND ANNEMARIE
AND FOR
NEELA

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    My thanks to Blair Boone for continuing to be my first reader, to Debra Dixon for being second reader, to Doranna Durgin for maintaining the Web site, to Rick Kohler for making the map pretty, to Pat Feidner just because, and to all the friends and readers who make this journey with me. And a special hello to Nikki and Sloan, the humanitarian vampire princesses I met on an Alaskan cruise.

Dena Nehele

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.

    AUTHOR’S NOTE
The “Sc” in the names 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; mostly refers to any Blood female who doesn’t wear Jewels
    witch—a Blood female who wears Jewels but isn’t 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 and 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