Are you Countless of Tlanth? she asked as I dismounted.I nodded, and she bustled over to a friend, handed off the horse, then beckoned me inside. I’m to show you to the south parlor, my lady.Muddy to...
Angry men with pointy things sent to secure a foreign city are pretty much alike anywhere. That's what I've heard. So far nothing's convinced me different.
And no one else knows of this? he asked gently.I shook my head slowly, unable to remove my gaze from his faze. Azmus discovered it by accident. Rode two days to reach me. I did send him…There was no p...
And after?As we discussed. Honor the Covenant. No more forced levies; tax reform; trade reestablished with the outside, minus the tariffs that went into the Merindar personal fortune. That’s to start....
Ah, my dear, Princess Elestra said to me in her fluting voice--that very same voice I remembered so well from my escape from Athanarel the year before. How delighted we are to have you join us here. D...
AFTERWORDAnd so I come to the end of my tale. I look through my window at the early buds of spring and think of placing this little book on the shelf here with all the other memoirs of queens and king...
A faint movement distracted me as Oria elbow-crawled up to my side. Her profile was outlined by the light from those faraway torches as she looked down on the castle below.I’m sorry, Oria, I breathed....
The one that whupped Galdran Merindar?Unbidden, Shevraeth’s voice spoke inside my head: You have never lied to me… I thought desperately, And for a brief moment I envisioned myself snarling Except i...
You’ll be in the race tomorrow?Of course, I said, lifting my hands. I have to prove whether my wins last time were luck, skill--or the kindness of well-wishers.Tamara smiled a little. And once you’ve...
You know what I miss? The practice sessions we had when we were riding cross-country last year. I did some practice at home…but there doesn’t seem to be opportunity anymore.We have open practice each...
Why hadn’t he told me? Because I’d called him a liar and untrustworthy, and had made it plain I wasn’t going to change my opinion, no matter what. Then why hadn’t he told my brother, who did trust him...
Why d’you think Vidanric sent the escort?Vidanric?His name, Branaric said, still staring at me with that odd gaze. You could try to use it--only polite. After all, Shevraeth is just a title, and he do...
Who is it from? Savona asked.I looked up at him, trying to divine whether the secret knowledge lay behind his expression of interest.Of course she cannot tell, Tamara said, her tone mock chiding--a ma...
While I sipped at my coffee, one by one the staff finished their chores and vanished through the tent flaps, until at last Shevraeth and I were alone.He turned to face me. Questions?Of course! What ha...
When at last Deric and I settled into his carriage, he dropped back with a sigh of relief. Well, that’s over. Good food and good company, but none of it worth sitting mum while Fialma glared daggers a...
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 woke the air was hot and stuffy, and I was immediately aware of being shut up in a small painted-canvas box. But before I could react with more than that initial flash of distress, I realized t...
When I woke again, I was in darkness.Fighting my way to awareness, I realized I’d heard sharp voices. Yells echoed back and forth, calling commands to different ridings; from the distance there came t...
When I reached my rooms, I saw a letter lying on my table.Hastily stripping off my gloves, I sank down onto my pillows, heedless of the costly fabric of my court gown crinkling and billowing about me,...
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...