Loss of prestige? In what way? I asked.He sat back, his eyes glinting with amusement. First there was the matter of a--very--public announcement of a pending execution, following which the intended vi...
I wanted your experience of Court to be as easy as possible. Your brother just shrugged off the initial barbs and affronts, but I knew they’d slay you. We did our best to protect you from them, though...
I thought about myself showing up on his trail, put there by servants who were--I realized now--doing their very best to throw us together, but with almost disastrous results. It was only his own fait...
I really needed time to think, and--so I figured--if my life was destined to continue at such a headlong pace, I was going to have to learn to perform my cerebrations while dashing back and forth cros...
I hopped over a little flower border. The blooms--ghostly white in the soft glow from the lamps around the park’s circumference--ran up the brick walkway and gripped the stone lip of the fountain. I o...
He said the proclivities for indulging in gossip stems from the same impulse as the reading of novels, only gossip touches on real people. Therein lies the harm.
He never pronounced judgment on current events and people, despite some of my hints; and I forbore asking directly, lest I inadvertently say something about someone in his family--or worse, him.
Elenet and Savona appeared, arm in arm, she dressed in forest green and he in a very dark violet that was almost black. They came directly to me, smiling welcome, and with a pretty fan-flourish of Fri...
Do you think he’ll make a good king? I asked.Again she seemed surprised. Yes, she said. But then I’ve known him all my life. I thought.
And then you compounded your attractions by keeping my lazy cousin on the hop for days. He indicated Shevraeth with an airy wave of the hand.Those memories effectively banished my mirth. For it wasn’t...
I thought.Vidanric said, Administrative details.Flauvic made an ironic half bow from his seat on the throne. For which I thank you. Tiresome details. The metallic golden eyes swept indifferently over...
Why did you get me drunk? I asked. I’m no rival of yours.She made a quick, sharp gesture of negation. A diamond on her finger sparkled like spilled tears, and I realized her fingers were trembling.It’...
Why did I laugh at his sorry, bedraggled appearance? Because ridiculousness made a repellant situation more bearable.
What? I yelled. And I opened my mouth to complain , but I recalled a certain interview, not long ago, that had ended rather abruptly when a candleholder had--ah--changed hands. Grimacing, I said in a...
What is your name?It took a moment for the words to register--for me to realize he did not know who I was! His eyes narrowed; he had seen my reaction, then--and I stirred, which effectively turned my...
What can I possibly do besides serve as a figure of fun for the Court to laugh at again? I don’t anything--besides how to lose a war; and I don’t think anyone is requiring that particular bit of know...
We talked more about what had happened, and Nee maintained that Savona’s picking me up and walking out was the signal that had finished Tamara.This made me wonder, as I dressed alone in my room, if th...
We reached a path just as the beat of horse hooves sounded from not far ahead. I stepped back; Flauvic looked up as two riders trotted into view.My first reaction was blank dismay when I saw Savona an...
We ended up downstairs in the summer parlor, whose great glassed doors would in a few months look out on a fine garden but now gave onto a slushy pathway lined by barren trees and rosebushes. Still si...
Waking to the sound of the bells for third-gold, I found myself staring up at a pair of interested brown eyes.She’s awake! my watcher called over her shoulder. Then she turned back to me and grinned....