The Lady of the Sorrows

Plot summary

Imrhein, who has had her face and voice cured but not her memory, has not completed her mission yet. Maeve One eye, the carlin who cured her, gets Imrhein a new identity: Lady Rohain Tarrenys of the Sorrow Isles. Imrhein/Rohain, under cover of night to escape mysterious watchers, heads to Caermelor. After unloading her information with the Duke of Roxburgh, getting assigned a maid, Viviana, and enduring a strenuous dinner with the cruel, jealous Dianella, Rohain heads on a Dainnen frigate to the treasure cache Waterstair where her friend Sianadh was killed. There the plunderers are captured and the treasure is given to the royalty. Rohain is the rewarded with 80 guineas,the Crown estate Arcune, and the title of Baroness. At Court she asks after Thorn, a Dainnen ranger and the love of her life. Rohain also gets a proposal from the Royal Bard and reveals in a drunken state to Dianella that she is Talith, a rare race. While she is at Arcune with the Duchess of Roxburgh and her 7 children, Rohain discovers Sianadh is alive and in prison. After she manages to persuade the Jailer to let him have some free time, Sianadh advises her to go to Isse tower, where she was enslaved, and find answers to her past. At first, she refuses to go, unwilling to leave Sianadh, but after Dianella informs her that she and her uncle Sargoth know she's an imposter, Rohain gives her wealth to Dianella and heads to Isse. There, she asks Ustorix, a young lord there, to perform a feat she once saw two servants do: jump on sildron bars which he does to atone for rash behavior. After Rohain discovered from Pod by using threats where she was found, she sets off for Huntingtowers, a place of unseelie residence. However, the owner of Huntingtowers, leads an attack on Isse Tower, which the King Emperor and the Dainnen stop. Unwilling to beg for Sianadhs' life in her ragged state, Rohain remembers words from the Royal Bard and steps onto the balcony. There, she is reunited with Thorn, who recognizes her instantly and asks her to marry him. When messengers call Thorn "Your Imperial Majesty" Rohain realizes Thorn is King Emperor James XVI. The next day he explains everything to Rohain. Then they leave for Caermelor with Caitri, a kind servant who helped Rohain when she was a slave, and Dain Pennyrigg, after Rohain saves Pod from Thorn's wrath. Rohain befriends Prince Edward, visits Dianella, prepared for execution, who tries to intoxicate and drag away Rohain, and gets Sianadh spared. Then Thorn is forced to go to Namarre, and despite her pleas to go with him, sends Rohain, Roxburgh's wife, the Bard, and Prince Edward to the royal sanctuary, Tamhania/Tavaal. There, Rohain meets a woman who looks familiar to her. After an Unseelie decoy where 3 birds go to the peak of the Volcano, Rohain realizes the woman is Silken Janet's mother. When the unseelie birds activate the Volcano, Tavaal is evacuated. Only Rohain, Viviana and Caitri survive the island's destruction(so does the local wizard but he leaves with a sea girl). The girls shelter in a house which seems familiar to Rohain. She sends the others to Isse tower while she continues her journey to Huntingtowers, but they follow her. In the wilderness, she renames herself Tahquil, meaning 'warrior'. When they get to Huntingtowers, Imrhein/Rohain/Tahquil trips, twists to avoid paradox ivy, which caused her suffering in the last book, and discovers a bracelet her father once gave her. This triggers her memory, and she remembers her name, Ashalind, her childhood and how she lost her memory. She also remembers her original quest, to find the exiled Faeren High King Angavar and his entourage and inform him of the whereabouts of the last gate between the Faeren world and Erith, without tipping off his evil brother Morragan, who is also exiled.

Characters