Sherwood Smith Quote

Thank you for showing me the library, Your Highness, I said. I hope you will find time for exploring in here during your stay at Athanarel, she replied, leading the way to the doors.She was kind and unthreatening; and because we were alone, I took a chance. Did you know I was using your carriage to escape that night? I blurted. My words sounded sudden, and awkward, and my face burned.She sighed, looking down at her hand on the door’s latch, but she did not open the door. It was an ill-managed thing, not a memory one wishes to return to. Those were dangerous days, and we had to act quickly. Then she opened the door, and there were the footmen, and when she spoke again, it was about the new musicians that were to play.We’d reached the reception room before I realized that her answer had admitted to a conspiracy without implicating anyone but herself--and that it had also been a kind of apology. But it was equally clear that she didn’t want to return to the subject, and I remembered what Nee had told me during our first real conversation: I thought, as we joined the rest of the company. The Renselaeuses won; surely such talk could no longer harm them. And it was impossible to believe that they wanted to protect those who had lost…those such as myself.I shook my head as I made my way to Bran and Nee.