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"I could ask hian said on inspiration "He knows ripped the back of his chair to steady himself "My dear, that would be suicide! Whatever you once knew of the otiate, and past acquaintances are little safer in his presence than opponents His temper is mercurial Besides, he is not due to awaken for another three years"
"Awaken?"
"Every ten years I am not sure he actually sleeps,that ti the empire?"
"His inner circle of Adherents, at his sufferance They take care of the day-to-day running of the empire When the emperor rises, that’s when they receive his instructions, and he reviehat has happened during his sleep" The professor shuddered "We never look forward to the e"
"Why?"
"That is when hehis subjects of his authority Examples are made to the populace--the streets run with blood Crian frowned That didn’t sound like Amberhill, but she had not known him well She suddenly felt very tired, the phosphorene laht at bay She watched as dust settled in the streaht here, why the god of death had seen fit to intervene, and she couldn’t help but still believe that whatever had become of Sacoridia, and Amberhill’s involveht here for soardless of the death god’s plans for her, she knew that if she was able to find a way home to her own time, she would do whatever it took to stop A his weapons, whatever they were, to conquer Sacoridia She could not allow hi--and everyone--she loved
The professor stepped around his chair and sat with a creak They gazed at one another, rim expressions
"I have opposed the emperor in my own small way for most of my adult years," the professor said, "but never have I felt such hope as when I came to believe that you are what you say you are By whatever the ods, that brought you to n, and now that you say you knew the emperor when he was just a mortal man, I can only feel that the time has come"
"For what?"
"To resist in earnest It is tian shifted uncomfortably in her chair She had not wanted to becoet hos you know about the castle corounds Hoas all laid out"
"Yes," she said cautiously