CHAPTER 2“Gone the Eagle, Gone the Dove”
One afternoon in the summer of his sixteenth year, Evnos looked out the window of the Tower of Eagles and saw a long column of men coming up from the sea—soldiers whose armor gleamed and flashed in the sun, standard-bearers, serving men with burdens on their backs, courtiers walking beneath canopies, and two great litters, each borne by a dozen porters. Dust rose from beneath their feet as they approached.
The Prince called his teacher to him, saying, “What is this?”
Theremderis answered, “A king comes among us and shall dine within these walls tonight. His daughter is with him, and they say she is a jewel. She is of marriageable age.”
“Marriageable age?”
“My Prince, it is time you took a wife.”
“I hadn’t thought about it. There were so many o
