Bringer of Light (57 page)
Authors: Jaine Fenn
‘You’re a total bastard, you know that?’
‘Yes: this is not news to me. It should not be news to you.’
Taro looked at Jarek, who was glaring at the com, his face crumpled with fury. Taro wondered if he was going to give the Minister a piece of his mind, before realising no, he wasn’t, because the best he could hope to achieve would be to piss him off. And the worst? Jarek’s expression reminded him who actually owned the
Heart of Glass.
The Minister continued calmly, ‘You will have no trouble when you return to Vellern – assuming you do not try and cause any. We are allies, after all. Now what is that human saying? Ah yes, I remember:
Better the devil you know—
’
Taro cut the connection.
The fall of the Hidden Empire begins in
QUEEN OF NOWHERE
coming in 2012 from Gollancz
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book made it into print thanks to the usual suspects and the new recruits who gave honest and comprehensive feedback, sometimes in ridiculously short timescales: Emma O’Connell, Nick Moulton, James Cooke, Susan Booth plus, of course, Tripod (currently consisting of Dr James Anderson, Mike Lewis, Andrew Bland, Bob Dean and Marion Pitman). Thanks to Dr Mark Thompson of the University of Hertford for emergency orbital mechanics and thought-provoking suggestions of an astrophysical nature. Also to my husband Dave, less for plot advice this time than for keeping me sane when shiftspace and deadlines conspired to eat my brain. And last but not least, my ongoing gratitude to Jo Fletcher, who I was lucky enough to have as an editor for my first four books.
Also by Jaine Fenn from Gollancz:
Principles of Angels
Consorts of Heaven
Guardians of Paradise
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © Jaine Fenn 2011
All rights reserved
The right of Jaine Fenn to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper St Martin’s Lane,
London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2011 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 575 09697 4
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.