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"The ca out of the side of the ship, so we could see the foot of the ship itself, settled in the dust, and the dust rising up over it like a horse’s hoof when it puts its foot down

"It was flat where the ship came down; covered with a soft, powdery kind of dust, with little rocks scattered on it here and there Then the ca pictures--and you could see that there were rocky cliffs off in the distance It’s barren--no plants, no water, no air--but sort of beautiful, in an eerie kind of way"

"It sounds like Scotland," he said She laughed at the joke, but thought she heard under the hu to distract hihter in the velvet sky

"The stars are really suns, like ours It’s only that they’re so far away from us, they look tiny They’re so far away that it ht to reach us; in fact, soht"

"Claire told ot up with an air of decision

"Come then," he said "Let’s take the hive, and be off hoh that we had left the hide -covering unpinned and rolled aside Occasional s blundered in to drown themselves in the cauldron or commit fiery suicide on the hearth, but the cool leaf-scented air that washed over us orth it

On the first night, Ian had gallantly given Brianna the trundle bed and gone off to sleep with Rollo on a pallet in the herb shed, assuring her that he liked the privacy Leaving, his quilt over one arm, he had clapped Jamie solidly on the back and squeezed his shoulder in a surprisingly adult gesture of congratulation that made me smile

Ja in several days He wasn’t sh his face bore a tender, inward look There was a half-full h thefor me to see him clearly as he lay on his back beside me

I was surprised that he wasn’t asleep yet He had risen well before dawn and spent the day with Brianna on theafter dark with a plaid full of smoke-stunned bees, ere likely to beand discovered the trick perpetrated on thearden where the row of bee gu first and ask questions afterward

Ja ht wasn’t cold, but he wore a shirt to bed, in deference to Brianna’s ht bother you?"

"No" He was looking out at the e, not yet full, but a luminous white that flooded the sky

"If it’s not the htly, and let hed again, and squeezed ret, Sassenach" He turned his head toward the trundle bed, where the dark spill of Brianna’s hair fell in a moon-polished mass across the pillow "I am only sorry that we must lose her"

"Mm" I let my hand rest flat on his chest I had known it would co itself--but I hadn’t wanted to speak of it, and break the temporary spell that had bound the three of us so closely

"You can’t really lose a child," I said softly, one finger tracing the so back, Sassenach--ye know it as well as I do" He stirred impatiently but didn’t move away "Look at her She’s like Louis’s caht Louis of France kept a fine ood days the keepers would exercise certain of the aniardens, to the edification of startled passersby

We had been walking in the gardens one day, and turned a corner to find the Bactrian ca toward us down the path, splendid and stately in its gold and silver harness, towering in cally exotic, and utterly out of place ah with a reluctance that squeezed s there"

"I ken that well enough" He put his own hand overat Brianna "I shouldna grieve for it--but I do"

"So do I" I putin the clean h--what I said You can’t truly lose a child Do you--do you rehtly as I asked it; we had not spoken in years of our first daughter, stillborn in France

His arainst him

"Of course I do," he said softly "D’ye think I would ever forget?"

"No" The tears were flowing down ; it was no"That’s what I mean I never told you--ere in Paris, to see Jared--I went to the Hôpital des Anges; I saw her grave there I--I brought her a pink tulip"

He was quiet for a moment

"I took her violets," he said, so softly I almost didn’t hear hiotten

"You didn’t tell ers traced the bu softly up and down the line of my back

"I was afraid you’d feel…" My voice trailed off I had been afraid he would feel guilty, worry that I blamed him--I once had--for the loss We were newly reunited, then; I had no wish to jeopardize the tender link between us

"So was I"

"I’m sorry that you never saw her," I said at last, and felt hih He turned towardmy forehead