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"The shield is an said It would have been a s the Order of the Black Shields, the Weapons

"One of my predecessors decided he could not take a chance of the synized," the professor said, "so he carved it off Alas, he did not save the piece Not that I know of, at any rate"

"So theyto knoho "they" were "I was quite astonished to see yours I had assumed there’d been others, but I believed thean returned the cane to the professor, wondering where and how his "predecessor" had found it, but before she could ask him, he set it back on its shelf andwhen he ca units She hurried to catch up, and there she saw her uniforth of linen with uted and dirty and blood-splattered by her travails in Blackveil Her winged horse brooch glealow and she reached out to caress it It felt as it always had--oily smooth and cool There were her muddy boots, too, and belt, and the white feather of the winter owl, and of course her own bonewood cane

Her mother’s moonstone sat nested in crumpled purple velvet She picked it up, but it still eht

"Is that really?" the professor began in awe "Not just a legend?"

"If you are thinking it’s an Eletian an replaced it, hesitant to hold it too long as if her touch would use up its reht winked out, the professor’s expression fell

"So s we have lost with the empire," he murmured "So many wonders"

The professor had even kept the broken Eletian arrow shafts that had been used to splint Karigan’s broken wrist, and beside them, she was pleased to see, the mirror shards that had been removed from her flesh, still hazed with her blood They were laid out on the velvet

"I would like s back," she said

"I have deeht," the professor said "I’m sorry, but I cannot permit them inside my home I would not wish the eyes"

"What about this building? How safe is it?"

"It is watched, and if it’s breached, it’s quite easy to destroy the evidence, though the loss of these objects that are so priceless to an’s eyebrows scrunched together, his reference to destruction not reassuring her "I breached the building"

The professor smatically "If that’s the way you’d like to think of it"

Karigan scowled So they had been expecting her "I’d at least like " She would take it even if he said no Her hand twitched as she resisted the urge to just grab it

"Bad leg, indeed It’s done et here No, my dear, I understand completely the desire to have a weapon close to hand, but I can’t take the chance of anyone seeing that syue, but the professor’s raised hand forestalled her "I shall lend you ain and won’t think twice at "

"What about you? You won’t be able to use it"

"Oh, I have several walking canes to choose from, my dear, and all of them quite as lethal, if not more so, than your own" He winked and brushed past her, heading back down the aisle, presumably to retrieve his bonewood cane for her

She turned to folloith one last glance at her belongings Her reflection fell fractured and distorted on the mirror shards One eye, part of her mouth, and the tip of her nose The reflections rippled and changed, and instead of revealing parts of her own visage, she saw, like a kaleidoscope scene, a tiny ih stone corridor in each fragle, a different distance Karigan allanced over her shoulder

"What’s this?" Professor Josston exclaiaze at hi intently at the floor "Tsk, tsk," he said "Mouse droppings I shall need Cade to set an exhaled a breath she had not known she was holding A glance revealed the ione, and the shards were back to reflecting her own face Without hesitation she grabbed the largest mirror shard, which fit in the pal mask may have been shattered into hundreds of pieces, but even in this future whereof its power re lah stone walls of the corridor barely pushed back the dark that perpetually suffused this part of the castle It was always noticeably cooler in these lower regions, as well Laren Mapstone shivered, but not from the cold These corridors she walked, on her way to the records roo the oldest in the castle, and she often sensed she was not alone; the lateness of the hour only contributed to the feeling She glanced over her shoulder as if soaze touched her It was not the first time the sensation had come over her, and of course no one was there She hastened her step