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My Review of X-Cross (2007)

Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra of the Priory of the Orange tree has been sent undercover to the far-away court of Inys to protect Queen Sabran Berethnet the Ninth in secret. Sabran, young and unwilling to marry, is suffering under the burdens of her office; to be not just the Queen of a country, but also the religious head of three countries, direct descendant of the saviour and founder of Virtuedom, living seal against an unspeakable evil and future mother of the next Berethnet. Sabrans and Eads shared close friend Arteloth Beck has recently disappeared; he and his friend Kit are on a mission to the draconic nation of Yscalin. In the East, Tané, a village orphan chosen by the gods, is fighting for her place in the Clan Miduchi, the famed sea fighters and dragon riders that protect Seiiki from pirates and evil firebreathers both. She crosses path with Sabran’s denounced, exiled and bereft former court alchemist who seeks the secret of eternal life. All of them live in the shadow of an era ending and an old threat to all humanity, the Nameless One, ruler of wyrms, rising once again.
I have posted here about a fascinating seventeenth century romantic liaison between Constance Aston Fowler and Katherine Thimelby, who subsequently became her sister-in-law, and to whom she remained tied in bonds of affection throughout their lives.
Posted in my own DW: the saga of Sisterwrite bookshop, set up in Islington, North London, in 1978. A major centre of feminist and lesbian culture of the period - the account also gives a wider picture of that place and time and what it was like then - preinternet and very different.
Having recently had occasion to think about them - and their often forgotten devoted maidservant Mary Caryll - I have posted about the Ladies of Llangollen, famed historical icons of romantic female friendship.