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Head in his hands, he chuckled, on the verge of tears "My God, wo everything fro it back in one breath?"

"I don’t kno to be sorry, Casper For a princess, I’e that

He was on the verge of laughing, on the verge of crying, as if he were standing at the edge of a great precipice and deciding whether to jump or not Which, I had to suppose, was exactly as happening in his heart

"You’re untranslatable, you mean"

"That she is, lad, that she is," Verusha said, pulling out the little Turkish cigarettes she favored and lighting one with a clockwork lighter The silence spread out, broken only by Casper’s s

"What will you do, then?" I asked

"Sound my barbaric yawp, I suppose," he answered With sudden violence, he stood and yelled, "Godda it in his wake

"Is he always this ed "Aren’t we all?"

27

When I couldn’t hide a the cushions anymore, I followed Casper’s scent into the alley outside Verusha didn’t have to say a word Her heavy silence, her disappointed glare, was sufficient She hadn’t raised me to cower froht I heard her chuckle behind the closed door, but I was too embarrassed to check

I was half terrified that Casper had run out into the streets alone, where he would surely have caused trouble of one kind or another According to the laws of Muscovy, a lone servant could suffer anything fro or corporal punishainst the brick wall of the lane behind the shop, his hat still firmly laced under his chin

"Do you hate me?" I asked If the words were to be said, I wanted them to be mine and not his

He snorted "I want to But I can’t I did this tome to the answer, and I don’t like it I can’t blame you for that It’s a journey, I suppose I can’t stay in the saround, where soown’s shoulder catching on the bricks

"What’s so bad about this life?" I gestured to the grand city around us and, more subtly, to myself

"Would you want to becoh No"

"Okay, so that’s how I feel about beco a Bludman"

"But don’t you see? Your position is untenable You can’t be huer Why not accept what’s inevitable? Why not choose it before so else chooses for you? It’s better to be curious than judgmental Compare this place with London The dark streets, the fear riding the wind, the bludrats and Coppers There’s an elegance, a simplicity, to life as a predator It’s well ordered, calm We celebrate the arts as the humans cannot and care for the individual as they won’t The only strife you’ve seen in this city was caused by the Pinkies"

"It’s not a case of who is better or who is right It’s a case of giving up who I ah"

"It very well is not You’re in thefrom it is flat-out cowardly Butterflies don’t hide in cocoons; they bite their way out"

"Butterflies are extinct"

"You’re not"

He stood in one fluid motion that wasa foot over me, he forced me to look up at him, and warmth rushed overand how very incorrect it was for us to be looking at each other that way in the alley behind a proroomery

"You think I’m a coward, Ahna?"

I poked him in the chest with a talon "Only on this topic The one that h with it, then Hoould it work?"

"I have no idea But I’ll find out And I’ll do it myself" I didn’t realize the truth of it until I said it, but I couldn’t i anyone else to share so intimate an experience with him