ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthony Ryan lives in London and is a writer of fantasy, science fiction and non-fiction He previously worked in a variety of roles for the UK government, but now writes full-time Find out more about Anthony Ryan and other Orbit authors by registering for the free monthly newsletter at www.orbitbooks.net BY ANTHONY RYAN Raven’s Shadow Blood Song Tower Lord Queen of Fire COPYRIGHT Published by Orbit ISBN: 9781405525978 All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental Copyright © 2015 by Anthony Ryan The moral right of the author has been asserted Interior text design by Tiffany Estreicher Main map by Steve Karp, based on an original by Anthony Ryan Two empires map, Asrael & Cumbrael map, the Northern Reaches map, and Alltor map by Anthony Ryan All rights reserved 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 The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher Orbit Little, Brown Book Group Carmelite House 50 Victoria Embankment London, EC4Y 0DZ www.littlebrown.co.uk www.hachette.co.uk Contents About the Author By Anthony Ryan Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Maps Part I Chapter One: Lyrna Chapter Two: Alucius Chapter Three: Frentis Chapter Four: Reva Chapter Five: Lyrna Chapter Six: Vaelin Chapter Seven: Alucius Chapter Eight: Frentis Chapter Nine: Lyrna Chapter Ten: Alucius Chapter Eleven: Frentis Chapter Twelve: Vaelin Part II Chapter One: Lyrna Chapter Two: Vaelin Chapter Three: Frentis Chapter Four: Reva Chapter Five: Vaelin Chapter Six: Lyrna Chapter Seven: Frentis Chapter Eight: Vaelin Chapter Nine: Lyrna Chapter Ten: Frentis Chapter Eleven: Vaelin Part III Chapter One: Vaelin Chapter Two: Reva Chapter Three: Frentis Chapter Four: Lyrna Chapter Five: Vaelin Chapter Six: Reva Chapter Seven: Frentis Chapter Eight: Lyrna Chapter Nine: Reva Chapter Ten: Vaelin Part IV Chapter One: Vaelin Chapter Two: Lyrna Chapter Three: Vaelin Chapter Four: Reva Chapter Five: Frentis Chapter Six: Vaelin Chapter Seven: Lyrna Chapter Eight: Reva Chapter Nine: Frentis Chapter Ten: Vaelin Chapter Eleven: Lyrna Chapter Twelve: Reva Chapter Thirteen: Vaelin Chapter Fourteen: Frentis Part V Chapter One: Vaelin Appendix For Rod, Helen, Amber and Kyle ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Once again many thanks to my excellent editor at Ace, Susan Allison, who started this ball rolling three years ago with an e-mail to some guy in the UK who’d sold a few copies of his self-published fantasy book Also, deep appreciation to my UK editor, James Long, for his support and commitment to this project And finally, heartfelt thanks to my long-suffering second set of eyes, Paul Field ... more about Anthony Ryan and other Orbit authors by registering for the free monthly newsletter at www.orbitbooks.net BY ANTHONY RYAN Raven’s Shadow Blood Song Tower Lord Queen of Fire COPYRIGHT... Copyright © 2015 by Anthony Ryan The moral right of the author has been asserted Interior text design by Tiffany Estreicher Main map by Steve Karp, based on an original by Anthony Ryan Two empires... ignorant of my name, my list of titles is long and I’ll not bore you with it Suffice to say that I am your queen, hailed as such by Tower Lord Al Sorna and Lady Governess Reva of Cumbrael Many of you