Kushiel's Dart

A nation born of angels,
vast and intricate and surrounded
by danger...
A woman born to servitude,
unknowingly given access to the
secrets of the realm...

Born with a scarlet mote in her left eye, Phèdre nó Delaunay is sold into indentured servitude as a child. When her bond is purchased by an enigmatic nobleman, she is trained in history, theology, politics, foreign languages, the arts of pleasure. And above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Exquisite courtesan, talented spy . . . and unlikely heroine. But when Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens her homeland, Terre d'Ange, she has no choice.

Betrayed into captivity in the barbarous northland of Skaldia and accompanied only by a disdainful young warrior-priest, Phèdre makes a harrowing escape and an even more harrowing journey to return to her people and deliver a warning of the impending invasion. And that proves only the first step in a quest that will take her to the edge of despair and beyond.

Phèdre nó Delaunay is the woman who holds the keys to her realm's deadly secrets, and whose courage will decide the very future of her world.

Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart—a massive tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new. It is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. A world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, deposed rulers and a besieged Queen, a warrior-priest, the Prince of Travelers, barbarian warlords, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess . . . all seen through the unflinching eyes of an unforgettable heroine.

Jacqueline Carey is a researcher in art history and currently resides in Michigan. Her previous publications include various short stories

Cover Art by John Jude Palencar
Edited by Claire Eddy
Design by Heidi Eriksen
Illustration by Russell Sawyer
 

Hardcover
Paperback

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

First printing, June 2001

A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

Tor Books on the World Wide Web:
http://www.tor.com

Tor^® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-0-312-87238-0
ISBN-10: 0-312-87238-0

Copyright © 2001 by Jaqueline Carey

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webscription.net

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carey, Jacqueline.
Kushiel's dart / Jacqueline Carey.—1st ed.
  p .cm.
  "A Tom Doherty Associates book."
  ISBN 0-312-87238-0 (acid-free paper)
    1. Courts and coutiers—Fiction. 2. Indentured
       servants—Fiction. 3. Women domestics—Fiction.
    I. Title.
PS3603.A74 K8 2001
813'.54—dc21
                            2001021945