You might contemplate the purpose of a court… You brainless, twaddling idiot, I thought scornfully. I wished he were before me. I wished I could personally flout him and his busy searchers, and make h...
Wondering how I would make it through a hand-to-hand duel, I glanced around--and just then I saw one of Galdran’s equerries fall from his saddle, his banner-spear spinning through the air toward me. I...
When I did come to again, it was to the slow recognition of patterned movement. Next I realized that I was more or less upright, kept in place by the uncompromising grip of an arm. And at last I saw t...
Well, I had no answer to make to that; thinking about Elenet, or Shevraeth, or that carved throne, caused a cold ache inside, as if I had lost something I had not hitherto valued.So I didn’t write bac...
Was there a letter with it?No. But who else would know?It might not be a Name Day gift at all, though it’s awfully expensive for an admirer to start with, Nee said slowly.Savona, you think? I felt my...
War is a convenient fix for government problems if it happens somewhere else. To other people.
There was no time to react, of course.My heart gave one great thump and scampered like the rat they’d called me as the gray rode on unchecked, followed by the remainder of the cavalcade.Ahead of me, t...
The throne was empty, and above it hung only the ancient flag of Remalna, tattered in places from age. Galdran’s banners were, of course, gone. No one was on the dais. Just below it, side by side in f...
No matter how far diverged by their singular histories, every human culture in the Thousand Suns resonates to its tragic echoes.
I’m exactly as unlikely to blab our secrets to an anonymous flunky as I am to a Court decoration with a reputation as a gambler and a fop, I said finally.’Court decoration’? he repeated, with a faint...
If more people recognized the difference between friendship and mere attraction, and how love must partake of both to prosper, I expect there'd be more happy people.
Gossip, I have discovered, is seldom spread about people who find happiness or contentment.
Expecting the two equerries to immediately take off after me, I braced for a run. I thought, annoyed with myself. But the equerries both turned and walked swiftly back in the direction they’d come, a...
I thought scornfully. I wished he were before me. I wished I could personally flout him and his busy searchers, and make him look like the fool he was. And watch the reaction, and walk away laughing.
You will like Court life, I promise, she said, smiling sweetly as we went out of the parlor.I took care to walk behind her so she could not see my face.
When we were finished, the Prince said, Have you any further questions concerning the matter we discussed last night?One. While I felt no qualms about being rude to his son, I was reluctant to treat t...
What have you to say now, my little hero? the Baron gloated.That you are a fool, the son of a fool, and the servant of the biggest
We clattered into the streets of Remalna under a brilliant sky. The cobblestones were washed clean, the roofs of the houses steamed gently. A glorious day, which should have brought everyone out not j...
There were no shouts, no trumpets, nothing but the ringing of iron-shod boots on the stones of the bridge, and the clank of ready weaponry.Could we rescue them? I could not see Khesot’s face, but in t...
Then let’s address the business before us. I hope and trust we’ll have the remainder of our lives to talk all this over and compare misguided reactions, but for now… He rose and pulled me to my feet....