...Jinesse watched the light brighten the lace-roofed, pennoned towers; the scalloped merlons of the curtain walls where Shand's old blood royalty had walked; the pastel drum towers with their odd, paned windows where the high king's council once held its yearly court; and in her ears rang the sweet showers of harmonics as the living prince of quite another kingdom tuned a new set of strings on his lyranthe.
...Then Arithon damped his last, ringing chord and arose, a groomed stranger in a black doublet corded with silver. He wore hose and boots with embroidery and buckles, and a silk shirt with points tipped with pearls. Jinesse slipped her grip on the twins, kissed them both, and, unasked, remained in position at the sloop's rail.
"If you desire my presence, I am ready," she said.
Copyright Janny Wurts. Excerpt from HarperCollins paperback edition of "Ships of Merior."
