I found the other two in Bran’s room, and one look at their faces made it abundantly clear that they felt no better than I did. Not that the Marquis had a red nose or a thick voice--he even looked ari...
I don’t know what instructions Nimiar gave her seamstress in private. I had expected a modest trunk of nice fabric, enough for a gown or two in the current fashions. What returned, though, just over a...
I do not like to remember that trip.Not that I was awake for much of it--for which I am grateful. I kept sliding in and out of consciousness, and believe me, the were much more welcome than the
I do not like to remember that trip.Not that I was awake for much of it--for which I am grateful. I kept sliding in and out of consciousness, and believe me, the were much more welcome than the I kne...
I did not dance again but once, and that with Savona, who insisted that I join Shevraeth and Elenet in a set. Despite his joking remarks from time to time, the Marquis seemed more absent than merry, a...
I closed my eyes, feeling sleep steal over me; but the pleasant lassitude fled when the tent flap opened again, this time pulled by a rough hand. Cold air swirled in. I blinked up at a burly helmeted...
He knocked me off my horse. But I’d taken an oath, so I had to do my best. I drew in a shaky breath. I know I can’t fight forty of you, but I’m going to stand here and block you until you either go aw...
Had I been downstairs among the glittering throng, I would have loved it, but I now had Shevraeth standing right beside me, holding out his arm. I just I would manage to do something embarrassing.I t...
For those first days it had taken all my energy just to keep up and not embarrass myself. But the regular food, and the rest, had restored a lot of my energy, and with it came curiosity.I said tentati...
Flauvic’s remark about scholarship, I decided before the day ended, was a kind of double-edged sword. When I discovered my ancestor Ardis was not so much prominent as notorious, my first reaction was...
Can you tell me, he said slowly, why you seem still to harbor your original resentment against me?Several images--spies, lying courtiers--flowed into my mind, to be instantly dismissed. I had no proof...
By the hundreds, from all directions, the Hill Folk had come to Athanarel.
But to return to your question, Vidanric’s tendency to keep his own counsel ought to be reassuring as far as people hopping out with embarrassing words are concerned. If I were you--and I know it’s so...
But I think the time has come for a different perspective, one that is innate in you. It is a problem, I have come to realize, with our Court upbringing. No one, including Elenet, has the gift you hav...
At the best of times I don’t have the kind of voice anyone would want to hear mangling their favorite songs.
As we made our way steadily northward, their spirits lifted at the prospect of home, and leave-time to enjoy it. From remarks they let fall it seemed that the Marquis had had them on duty day and nigh...
As we climbed, the air got colder. But when the woods closed around me at last, I forgot about the discomfort. I was breathing the scents of home again, the indefinable combination of loam and moss an...
As soon as I reached my room I took out the Marquise’s letter and reread it, even though by then I knew it word for word. It seemed impossible that Branaric’s arrival on the same day--with Shevraeth--...
As I watched, two equerries in Renselaeus livery strode along the path, overtook the man, and addressed him. I watched with my heart thumping like a drum as the man spoke at some length, brushed his f...
As I trod down the hall, I made and discarded plausible excuses. When I reached the tapestry I decided against speaking at all. I’d just take a quick peek, and if the livery was Merindar, then I’d hav...