Extraits

Tandis que Khalaf se concentre, mon esprit se tourmente. Je repense à tout ce que j'aurais pu faire pour empêcher ce moment, à toutes les petites erreurs qui nous ont conduits ici.

“An apple. A choice. A song. A kiss.

And wilderness is paradise now.”

Who are you?

The way you speak, the words you use, the things you know...

I wish that you didn’t feel a need to hide who you are. I wish that you would let me know you as you know me.

Who are you? Really?

“As on the mountain’s peak, so useless is your fire

That from your flame grows colder still its ring.

Before you lies a choice: What’s your desire?

Break free and be slave? Or remain and be king?”

He leans in. “Promise me.”

His voice gets me. Every. Single. Time.

“I promise,” I say, and I mean it.

“Here’s your first lesson.”

“First? There’s going to be more than one?”

“Okay, here’s a lesson. If there are more, great. If there aren’t, at least you’ll have a clue as to what you’re doing with a dagger.”

“I have no clue what I’m doing with a dagger.”

“Jinghua,” he admonishes, exasperated.

“Sorry. I’ll be a good student.”

Timur claps his huge hands together and rubs them briskly. “This seems like the perfect opportunity to get to know each other. Let’s have a nice little chat, shall we?”

That sounds like about as much fun as a public impalement.

“The man who craves power is the one you cannot trust with it, but the man who is reluctant to lead becomes the greatest ruler of all.”

- Jinghua ? murmure-t-il encore une fois.

- Oui ? je réponds, à moitié amusée, à moitié exaspérée.

- Je te remercie de me supporter.

- De rien, mon seigneur, je réponds - et c'est tellement ridicule que ça me fait sourire.

Plus tard, je m’allonge et regarde la fumée du feu s'échapper par le trou au-dessus. Mais dans ma tête, je vois le prince Khalaf du khanat de Kiptchak qui me sourit.