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"Do you so? She is dead I arned it would be so, and I feel it in my heart How, then, can she be restored toher hoain

Conrad rose He wore a light cloak against the cool evening Its he only when he had gone several paces out, and even then casting the words over his shoulder as though they were a dart hter My chosen heir, ill not now sit in e over me, did he not? I feel inclined to spoil his wishes"

"Who could have taken this beloved child from you?"

"My mother To whorowled, and Rage lifted her ears A faure walked toward the men whose handsome faces were illuminated by the lit lae, Sabella er wo, and the hounds with their alert if not quite threatening posture on either side of Alain "I wondered where you had gone Is there anything I should know?"

A suspicious wo on all sides No doubt the duchess of Arconia drank deeply at that river

"You know everything I know," said Conrad, wiping his face before turning to face her

She snorted "I doubt it Had you kept no secrets froestured toward Alain "As for this one, you knohat I know He rain What do you e hi to an eminence he does not deserve?"

"Think you so?"

"He does not appear so to me," she admitted "No common-born man speaks to Arnulf’s heir with such words and such boldness What have you to say to this, Lord Alain?"

"Nothing"

She had a twisted kind of grimace that posed as a smile If she had ever known happiness, it was by now buried under a erous because of the weight on her heart "It is s, and want the them Are you a spy, sent to ferret out our secrets?"