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"I aritted teeth "I serve Zachary, the king of Sacoridia The betrothal is general knowledge"

The professor slid weakly into his chair, all intensity vanishing "My dear, King Zachary and Queen Estora have not reigned for one hundred and eighty-six years"

Karigan’s hty-six," the professor supplied, nodding "I can only conclude you are a very disturbed young woman, delusional as I said But how you acquired information and artifacts of our history that are forbidden is another ht an said with a start but ht have been, for she had traveled in ti the involve mask in all this, she shouldn’t be surprised at all Still, discovering oneself in a future time was a bit of a jolt But how far forward had she con of Zachary ended relative to her entering Blackveil and s your ite you forward is a notion I do not understand"

Karigan didn’t understand it herself, but the reat power She said no more of it, however, and would not speak of her ability to cross thresholds, to step into other times He’d only think her ic, then hoould he believe her anyway? Not to mention, Rider abilities were not discussed outside the er service

"You are correct," the professor continued "This is Sacoridia, though it is no longer called such, and it would be best if you did not say any of these names to anyone The land that was once called Sacoridia has been incorporated into the Serpentine Ehost, but you are all too real I’ve seen the wounds of your flesh" He pointed at her plaster encased wrist "Ghosts don’t wear casts You must be a scholar, then, of secret history, to know these things Rare for a woman to be of a scholarly bent, but not unheard of A scholar then, with a sickness of the mind It appears my claim that I’d removed you froht, that she wouldn’t argue with the idea that she’d a "sickness of the s back," she said And somehow she’d have to discover a way to return to her own tieness of this world and its sierous future And the empire? Did this mean Mornhavon had overcome all to conquer her ho," the professor said "It would not be prudent to leave the around I am shocked no one found you before we did, elsewise you’d be in Inspector custody, or in the hands of Adherents" He shuddered "Good thing about the asylus about Green Riders or the old realh I warn you not to speak of it at all The emperor forbids that aspect of history, and he has spies everywhere"

As Karigan tried to digest his words, another thought occurred to her "You are not the person who stole me off the street"

"No, not personally, but a friend did so at my request," he replied "And I’d rather not say stole, but brought to safety I do have a reputation for helping unfortunates"

Especially those garbed in historic Green Rider uniforht "I am not anunfortunate, and I’d like to be released You’ve no right to hold me here"

"Yes, I can see you are a proud one, but trust ain We shall care for you as Mender Samuels has decreed In the meantime, I hope you will tell me how you came by those artifacts and learned your history"

"I will leave ofher covers aside to do just that

"Where will you go attired in only your nightgown?"

"Darden!" she snapped

The professor blinked in surprise, clearly not knohat she was talking about, and shook his head "Please rest Mirriam informed me you turned down a dose of morphia Perhaps I should have her adan heard the inherent threat in his words "You’ll find yourself seriously injured if you try," she said, tensing, ready to spring into action, but he did not move

"I do not doubt it," he replied "My friend said you’d fought adht, which is also curious No genteel lady would have enteel lady I am a Green Rider"

"So be it I will not force you to stay, Karigan G’ladheon, or whatever your real name may be, but I hope my hospitality will suffice to keep you peaceably abed until your wounds heal Just know that the outer world would not be so kind But perhaps you are beginning to understand that" He rose and gave her a curt bow "I’ve no wish to see you come to harm"

He strode across the rooivenpeople Do not speak it again We shall use another naraves have married into the Josston family out east, so it oogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">