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She shook her head in disbelief She recalled the moment in the don alley when she had chosen, chosen, to deof Second Earth to her But ho, had her journey brought her here, to a place where she would have to attee, can I?"

This ti, only very slowly "You entered your rite of ascension when you sent the hand-blast up into the Trough I’ back, not at this point And until your ascension cereain … I’ "Is this why you’re so angry? Why you’re as cold as ice this evening?"

His chest rose then fell "Yes" He thawed a little, his shoulders falling He rubbed his fist over his forehead "I tried last night to change things but Endelle wouldn’t talk toCommittee, but he was about as useful as rat shit"

"I can set up a field, though, right?"

He nodded "You know my reservations Leto has advanced powers like you, like me Don’t cast a field unless you know you can contain him"

She nodded Okay … no fields unless she was certain So how the hell was she supposed to be certain?

She turned away from him Her eyes burned Daht or fair? What had she ever done to deserve being condeht about the despair she had sensed in Kerrick at various points during her all-too-brief acquaintance with hi as I could, but the contest takes place in just under an hour Endelle sent battle gear, and you’ll need to eat A hed "You must ready yourself to depart"

She uest room, yet her instincts wouldn’t let her She turned back to hiaze and reached out with her eed with, yeah, his deeply eht of all he had done for her, all he had given her inable to handle her absurd power She put a hand on his cheek and he caught it with his, pressing hard

"Kerrick, you’re not responsible for this"

His face contorted as though she had struck hiood I chose to ascend even though I’d already watched you slay a death vamp, a creature who stated very clearly that he’d come to kill me, to take h that I wasn’t going on a trip to Disneyland Darian chooses to commit vile, despicable acts Others cave to his seduction and trickery You are not to blame for any of it"

His jaorked as she had so often seen itto crunch marbles His chest once more moved up and down, this time in even deeper breaths The therapist in Alison heard a shrill clanging of bells, a warning that soht no many times had she seen this before in her clients, that stolid look that was really only a wall of glass, which a few pertinent words and so would shatter?

However, that sort of effort always took ni and she certainly didn’t have the tier her life that the despair living in Kerrick had been with him from the time he ascended to Second Earth She knew this in the same way she knew that the sun rose in the east and set in the west

Her feet began ainst cold tile When she reached the guest rooear, as supple as velvet, hanging on the end of the rack Only then did the tears come Soht the reality of the situation hoainst a former Warrior of the Blood How the hell was she supposed to survive that?

Spectacle,

The lifeblood of a society,

A er reflection,

A ribbon around the hardship of life,

The challenge of the universe

--Collected Poems, Beatrice of Fourth

Chapter 18

Crace paraded his wife up and down the second tier aisle of the Tolleson Two arena, a long ay around the Coned for exhibition, for show, for de those beneath one’s station know just how inferior they were

He was in his ele that ry soul Best of all, however, was Julianna, whose beauty and bearing were unequaled

Julianna walked regally, her head held high, her neck encased in a stiff elegant ruff that spread to her shoulders and was attached to long lace sleeves Her gown, all in white and e her full perfect breasts He had suckled them earlier and made her cry out more than once His beloved had the most tender erotic breasts and came so easily beneath his mouth