Where are we going? I asked as he helped me down the stairs.Stable. One chance of getting out is there--if we’re fast.Neither of us wasted any more breath. He had to look around constantly while beari...
When you love something enough time races ahead like the wind chasing autumn leaves, sending them skipping and dancing out of reach, no matter how fast you run. But when you want something and must wa...
When the meal was over, the Princess invited everyone to yet another room, promising music after hot chocolate.Dazzled by the glint of jewels and the gleam of silk in the firelight, I moved slowly unt...
When she was done, I said, Thanks, Ria. That’s as good as an afternoon nap in the summer.A shame you have to put it up again, she said, smiling. It’s so pretty--the color of autumn leaves. Promise you...
When it was done and he took the mess away to bury, I lay back and breathed deeply, doing my best to settle my boiling stomach. All right, he said, that’s that. Now it’s time to go, if we’re to reach...
When Mora came in with my hot chocolate, she also brought me a gift: a book. I took it eagerly.The book was a memoir from almost three hundred years before, written by the Duchess Nirth Masharlias, wh...
When I emerged from the room, I found the riding all waiting, their gear on and horses ready.I turned to Nessaren. Until that moment I hadn’t considered what it meant to have them with me. Was it poss...
What seemed to be the entire staff of the place turned out, all bowing and scurrying, to make our debarkation as easy as possible. As I watched this--from beneath the rain canopy that two eager young...
What have you done with your day? Nee asked, her fan spread in the attitude I recognized from our fan lesson as Harmonic Discourse.We had a bout with the group at the garrison, had a squint at some ho...
We’re to have no communication with anyone outside of our own people, she said.My first reaction was disbelief. Then I thought of that letter of thanks I’d planned on writing, and even though I had no...
We worked for the four days of that blizzard, loosening the mortar in the lower stones of Castle Munth. The wind and storm did the rest; after the walls fell, we melted snow from uphill with our combi...
We saw Bran and Shevraeth only at dinner, and that seldom enough, for they were often away. When the weather was particularly bad, they might be gone for several days. On the evenings we were alone, N...
To resume--and we’d better hurry, or they’ll be down here clamoring for our company before their supper goes cold--Lord Vidanric has been working very hard ever since the end of the war. Too hard, som...
The second letter was sealed plainly, with no crest. I flung myself onto my pillows, broke the seal impatiently, and read: I winced and dropped the paper to the table. Well, I asked for the truth, I m...
The man came around, set a cup down by my hand. Are you very uncomfortable?Does it matter? I said, and wrapped my chilled hands around the cup--which was not of the battered metal I’d expected, but ve...
The huge, drafty building echoed with the clanks and thuds and shouts of mock battle. Khesot walked slowly up and back, his mild brown eyes narrowed, considering, as he watched us work.Get that shield...
The grandeur around us was a silent testimony to wealth and power. The air was scented with a complex mixture of exotic flowers and the faintest trace of tanglewood incense, denoting peace and kindred...
That afternoon we rode into an armed camp. I glanced about at the orderly tents, the soldiers in battle tunics of green and gold mixing freely with those in the blue with the three white stars above t...
Tell me where you got your information, he said.Azmus. Our old spy. My lips were numb, and I started to shiver. Hugging my arms against my stomach, I said, My reasons were partly stupid and partly wel...
Savona escorted me back to the Residence. For most of our journey the talk was in our usual pattern--he made outrageous compliments, which I turned into jokes. Once he said, May I count on you to grac...