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Oh, Godmother, once he asked if I had ever had a lover What was I supposed to answer to that?

Once he asked a question that I could at least answer honestly, even if I did not like to speak of it: Had I ever killed a ed: "You keep count?"

It is ablows unintentionally I tried to ansith dignity He should never knohether or not he had shaken me "I am not so callous or careless as to have yet lost track"

Chastened, he said quickly, "I’e you I’ve never killed anything" I could not tell if there was envy or horror in his emphasis

"I’ll tell you," I said, "and you h eyes brilliant with accusation, sitting elegantly upright against his pillows, his thin, pale hands resting quiet in the fur of one of the sliht how he er and older than he, li--our father sent o to deal with a Gaulish tribe that was rising against him There was a small skirmish before the matter was settled, and I killed two of the tribesht, and went on "Two other e froht, no more than self-defense Also in self-defense I killed a hway That was a peculiar, ugly incident"

"And the sixth?" Lleu proe" It is hard for me to speak of this "He was very badly hurt in the attack and asked me to end his life painlessly"

And suddenly froe than the others, I think You can’t help defending yourself, but to have to plan and think about a death, even a merciful death, must be terrible"

"Yes" I said to finish, my voice level, "The seventh was an execution I was asked to perform"

Lleu’s pale face leached to chalk, not because he was afraid, but because that was how he registered almost any emotion If, blameless and superior, he had de, I would have left him to entertain himself for the afternoon But he said, "Who asked you to do that?"

"The queen of the Orcades"

"Aunt Morgause? Your foster , he was not wh, he wa surprised; Artos had not taught his children to look for any gentleness in you Lleu gazed at me quizzically, and said at last, "But Medraut, you didn’t want to do it"

For one blank ht he had seen that in my face Then with less assurance he added, "Did you?" It had only been a question, not insight

"No," I answered frankly "It was a uilt, but I did not want to be his executioner"

"Why were you, then?"

"In the end, because he requested it himself" God, how cold-blooded a in idleness, without ever betraying what I felt then I sat still and looked at Lleu directly, daring him to question me further He said abruptly, "Your name means ‘marksman’"

"Yes The Deft One, the Skilled One"

Lleu suddenly grinned a little, wicked and delightful "Are you?"

Driven by led pride and self-conte rooht, sharp probe made of bone; then I returned to sit on the floor next to Lleu’s cot With the thread and a slender twig of kindling froer than my forearm The probe served for an arrow I used to do this to exercisehot days of the previous summer, before I was able to walk It had been a diversion from illness and fear: so, too, for Lleu