Ysabel. Guy Gavriel Kay

      

      

       YSABEL

       GUY GAVRIEL KAY

       Copyright

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      HarperVoyager An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by Simon and Schuster UK 2007

      Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay 2007

      Guy Gavriel Kay asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780007342037

      Ebook Edition © APRIL 2010 ISBN: 9780007352241 Version: 2016-10-03

      

       For Linda McKnight and Anthea Morton-Saner

       There is one story and one story only That will prove worth your telling, Whether as learned bard or gifted child; To it all lines or lesser gauds belong That startle with their shining Such common stories as they stray into.

      —ROBERT GRAVES

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

       Dedication

      

      

       Prologue

      

      

Part One

      

      

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

       Chapter VII

       Chapter VIII

       Chapter IX

       Chapter X

       Chapter XI

       Chapter XII

       Chapter XIII

       Chapter XIV

       Chapter XV

       Chapter XVI

      

      

       Part Two

      

      

       Chapter XVII

       Chapter XVIII

       Chapter XIX

      

      

       Keep Reading

       Acknowledgments

       About the Author

       ALSO BY GUY GAVRIEL KAY

       About the Publisher

       PROLOGUE

      The woods came to the edge of the property: to the gravel of the drive, the electronic gate, and the green twisted-wire fence that kept out the boars. The dark trees wrapped around one other home hidden along the slope, and then stretched north of the villa, up the steep hill into what could properly be called a forest.

      The wild boar—sanglier—foraged all around, especially in winter. Occasionally there might be heard the sound of rifle shots, though hunting was illegal in the oak trees and clearings surrounding such expensive homes. The well-off owners along the Chemin de l’Olivette did what they could to protect the serenity of their days and evenings