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...
He pulled one of his brands out of the fire and stepped toward me, raising it. The sharp smell of red-hot metal made me sneeze--and when I looked up, the man’s mouth was open with surprise. My gaze dr...
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...
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...
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...
And so passed the next several days.I prowled around the various Court functions to mark where Shevraeth was, and if I spotted him I’d invariably sneak back to the State Wing and slip into the memoirs...
And as for Vidanric, well, you’re safe there. I’ve never met anyone as closemouthed, when he wants to be. He won’t ask your reasons. What?I said, ‘Hah.’What is it, do you mislike him? Again she was st...
After a time Ara had to do her chores, leaving me on the porch with a fresh infusion of tea to drink, her garden to look at, and her words to consider.Not that I got very far. There were too many ques...
When I returned from the concert I wrote, in my very best hand, a letter to Flauvic requesting the favor of his advice on a matter of fashion. I sent it that night, and to my surprise, an answer await...
Until that morning most of the journey had been made in silence, our stops to eat and change horses--again, Renselaeus beneficence: all we had to do was mention their name, and the horses were instant...
So once again on an early spring day, I was ensconced in a coach rolling down the middle of the Street of the Sun. Again people lined the street, but this time they waved and cheered. And as before, o...
Shevraeth and I did not speak again; he kept working through his mail, and I, still tired and cold, curled up on a cushion and slipped into uncomfortable sleep.Waking to the sound of Bran’s cheery voi...
Regrets about leaving your home? she asked.No, I said--making my first Court white lie.Her relief was unmistakable as she sat back against the satin pillows, and I was glad I’d lied. I hope we make it...
My bout with the Marquis was much like the others. Even more than usual I was hopelessly outclassed, but I stuck grimly to my place, refusing to back up, and took hit after hit, though my parrying was...
Jaim says that the essence of command is to turn surprises to your favor. You get your perimeter outside the enemy’s perimeter, and attack.What does that mean, exactly?Oh, I don’t know, some kind of m...
I’ll go in the rattler with you, Bran said the next morning, to Nee. Grinning at her, he added, Probably will rain, and I hate riding horseback in the wet. And we never get enough time together as it...