To awaken her full power as High Seer, Ismerie had to walk this path of love and loss to its very end.
Leontis stared at the Chairman, stunned. "You knew... from the very start."
No wonder she had come to him so many times for help, and he had always turned her away.
He had foolishly believed it was only out of respect for the Chairman's position.
The Chairman spoke gravely, "This was written in both your stars long before you met."
"And the writ of severance?"
"Do not blame me. Master Anselm himself came to ask it of me. I could not refuse."
Leontis stood silent. Then he laughed, a harsh, broken sound filled with endless sorrow.
For the first time, he lost all control in front of another person.
"So all this time... I was only a piece moving across a board whose ending you alrea
