White Road

beside him again.
    He didn’t say more, and Seregil didn’t ask. Instead, he made a show of weighing a letter in each hand. “What do you say, talí? The lady or the whore?”
    “Magyana first, then the whore, and then the lady,” said Alec. “On one condition, though.”
    “You’re leveling conditions now? All right, what is it?”
    The flickering firelight made Alec look a bit menacing as he grinned and said, “That I don’t hear you complain about being bored for at least two months.”
    Seregil gave him a mocking seated bow. “You have my word. I’m sure this old whore of a city can keep me entertained for a bit. Besides, it’s nearly spring, and people do allsorts of foolish things in the spring. Ah, Alec—a good honest brawl and jobs waiting.” He yawned and stretched, then uttered the words he had not said since the Cockerel Inn burned.
    “It’s good to be home.”

The White Road
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are 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.
    A Spectra Mass Market Original
    Copyright © 2010 by Lynn Flewelling
    All rights reserved.
    Published in the United States by Spectra, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
    S PECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
    Map by Virginia Norey
    eISBN: 978-0-553-90701-8
    www.ballantinebooks.com
    v3.0