Chapter Forty-Five
The Empress Ishiquel
The God-Emperor’s Chosen, Empress Ishiquel Enna Tiamät, felt her languor dissipate in a flash of glorious, multi-hued light. Her surroundings, already the most opulent in the Realm, were instantly transformed, as if she had seamlessly and soundlessly stepped onto a brand new world. Even the rather ordinary face of the Faythan who had brought this wonder to her had been made more interesting by the play of light.
“From … Went, you say? A curious thing to name a planet?”
“Yes, most exalted of ladies,” he said. His voice was slightly nasal, but he spoke with a pleasing reverence. “They are the product of a creature that grows there, a worm-like thing that squirms from the sea to the shore in order to nest.”
“An ugly, wriggling thing produced this?
