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By Root 1718 0

himself and the insect-kinden, together with bonus material including short stories and artwork.

Heirs of the Blade is the seventh novel in the Shadows of the Apt series. Have you read Empire in Black and Gold, Dragonfly Falling, Blood of the Mantis, Salute the Dark, The Scarab Path and The Sea Watch?

BY ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY

Shadows of the Apt

Empire in Black and Gold

Dragonfly Falling

Blood of the Mantis

Salute the Dark

The Scarab Path

The Sea Watch

Heirs of the Blade

Acknowledgements

Firstly, an enormous thank you to my wife, Annie, not just for all the usual, but for her invaluable assistance in reading through and commenting on the manuscript during the editing process, when I was greatly in need of another point of view.

Secondly, the usual round of people, ‘Without Whom’: Simon Kavanagh, Peter Lavery and Julie Crisp, Chloe Healy and everyone else at Tor; Pete Bayly and the regulars at Oxford and Reading. In particular thanks to Helen Walter for being my consultant armourer.

Finally, for diverse secret reasons, a special thanks to Lasse Skjalm, Johnny Burlin and Anders Åström.

A glossary of characters and places can be found at the end of the book.

First published 2011 by Tor

This electronic edition published 2011 by Tor

an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

Basingstoke and Oxford

Associated companies throughout the world

www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-0-230-76172-8 EPUB

Copyright © Adrian Czajkowski 2011

The right of Adrian Czajkowski to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The Macmillan Group has no responsibility for the information provided by any author websites whose address you obtain from this book (‘author websites’). The inclusion of author website addresses in this book does not constitute an endorsement by or association with us of such sites or the content, products, advertising or other materials presented on such sites.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Table of Contents

Summary

Part One: The Recluse

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Part Two: The Widow

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Part Three: The Huntress

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Part Four: Broken Threads

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Forty-One

Forty-Two

Forty-Three

Forty-Four

Forty-Five

Epilogue