Chapter 12: Her Hands

"Go on, then," Perrin said again. "Light it."

His voice was only a rasp now, and it was clear to the whole hall.

The guards had him by both arms.

He did not struggle.

I took the cradle from Wynne and held it in both hands.

The Crown burned on my brow, and I poured everything I had into the little dark seed.

I thought of my mother's lap, and the song, and the Dawn I had raised that week.

Nothing happened.

The ember lay in the wire, dark and cold.

"It was warm when I took it," I said.

"It was warm because it was on its way out of me," said Perrin.

"Did you think a thing like that stays alive by itself? It needs someone to hold it. I've been holding it for a year."

"Give it back to him," Thessaly cried from the floor.

"I can't," Perrin said, almost kindly. "It's his now. Let's see what he does with it."

My sisters were weeping so loudly I could not hear the pillars.

The wardens of the Deep had risen to their feet.

The old lord of the mountains was shouting at my father.

I stood with the cold ember in my hands, and the fear I had held off since the Vault came up in me.

I had taken my mother from them, and I could not give her back.

Then Maelis said, "Let me."

She had come up the steps without my noticing.

She stood in front of me, pale, with her hair coming loose from its braid.

"You," I said.

"Please," she said. "Let me hold it."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Her grey eyes were fixed on the ember.

Keep reading free with an account. Start A Sparrow Stole My Place as Heir from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.