The Gray Wolf Throne
A Seven Realms Novel
Book Three
Cinda Williams Chima
Dedication
For my maternal grandmother,
Dorothy Downey Bryan, a gifted musician and
indifferent housekeeper who had the second sight. Grandma
had a lap that would accommodate several small children,
but she always kept a shotgun in the closet.
And in memory of Ralph M. Vicinanza,
who left us too soon.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
In the Borderlands
Chapter Two
Picking Over Old Bones
Chapter Three
Bad News and Good News
Chapter Four
A Welcome Home
Chapter Five
Old Enemies
Chapter Six
Simon Says
Chapter Seven
The Lady Sword
Chapter Eight
Endings and Beginnings
Chapter Nine
A Hunt Interrupted
Chapter Ten
The Price of Healing
Chapter Eleven
Secrets Revealed
Chapter Twelve
Bequest
Chapter Thirteen
Walking Wounded
Chapter Fourteen
Word Games
Chapter Fifteen
The Price Of Deception
Chapter Sixteen
A Way Forward
Chapter Seventeen
The Games Begin
Chapter Eighteen
A Web of Lies
Chapter Nineteen
A Calculated Risk
Chapter Twenty
Lucius and Alger
Chapter Twenty-One
Back in Aediion
Chapter Twenty-Two
Making a Point
Chapter Twenty-Three
Making Show
Chapter Twenty-Four
Farewells
Chapter Twenty-Five
Homecoming
Chapter Twenty-Six
Agreeing to Disagree
Chapter Twenty-Seven
On the Loose in the Palace
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Love Letter from Arden
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A Game of Suitors
Chapter Thirty
Allies
Chapter Thirty-One
Strange Bedfellows
Chapter Thirty-Two
For the Good of the Line
Chapter Thirty-Three
More Strange Bedfellows
Chapter Thirty-Four
Second Thoughts
Chapter Thirty-Five
A Bad Bargain
Chapter Thirty-Six
A Dangerous Dance
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Coronation
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
CHAPTER ONE
IN THE BORDERLANDS
Raisa ana’Marianna huddled in her usual dark corner at the Purple Heron, picking at her meat pie. She’d learned to stretch a meal and a mug of cider over an entire evening.
It was risky to sit out in the common room of a tavern every night. Lord Bayar’s assassins would be searching for her. They’d failed to kill her at Oden’s Ford, thanks to Micah Bayar,
