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"Hold h he enjoyed holding Yolandhe’s hand, he didn’t see what it had to do with anything Until he did The presences were suddenly there, slu , to co them But I do not advise it"

"No? Why? Can you at least tell me what they are?"

"Think deep into the heartstone and you will discern their shape"

Heartstone--that is what the Berry sisters had called the ruby on his ring And he was to think deep into it? He wanted to snap his irritation at Yolandhe for giving him no concrete answers, but he took a deep breath instead and settled Yolandhe le, but she had not been wrong about arcane matters so far It was just her way to be abstruse If she said he should think deep into the ruby to get his answers, well, then he should

He was not sure how to go about it, but he figured asking Yolandhe would accoazed at his ring, at the ruby He stared at it till his eyes watered Nothing happened

Think into it The words came to him on a breath of air or in a strea, clicked inside hi, for it came from his infestation He closed his eyes, and saw red Red bathed his inner eye, deep and glistening Before he could repress it, the part of him that was Akarion issued a non-verbal command, more a force of personality, an order for the shadows to awaken

Glowing, faceted eyes snapped open and stared into Amberhill’s mind He recoiled as a sense of the shadows’ raw, prier at his intrusion

When he opened his eyes, the surface of the water around the nearest islands roiled aves and counter-waves, for the islands were

BREAKING BONDS

Karigan sat in the chair by herThe ht fell through it in a dull haze It was going to be a warm and hu held, and if it was true he was going to be azed at the creased hly, the Capital was comprised of L’Petrie Province; and the Capital’s city, Gossham, had replaced Corsa, her honize with itsoutward in circles from the city’s central point, the erounds were situated on an island in a lake that had not existed in her own tient River, now the River Scale, which then emptied into Corsa Harbor, also renaes, she found this the least offensive

When she had browsed the atlas on previous occasions, it had pained her to look too closely at what once had been her home Her father’s estate was in Corsa’s countryside, but if she was ht, it appeared to have been sed up by Gosshareatness if that hat Amberhill had wanted for his capital city