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" 'And so we have this charged vision,' I h they were quietly on fire in all their parts ¡¯

" 'I knew you would understand,' Petronia responded 'I like your words Don't ever be afraid to speak up to me I watched you for years before I chose you -- you and your spirits It was language that drew me as truly as beauty ¡¯

" 'I love you,' I said 'Isn't that what you wanted?¡¯

"She laughed a h Her warm arm was around my waist, and for the moment her beauty could touch entle majesty I felt that I adored her

"We went out on the terrace and looked down at the sea It was a clear green and blue below I could see this in the dark, see it subtracting its color fro as if theydown the slope a town of white buildings, so perilously perched it seemed unreal, and beyond, the snowcapped mountain

" 'Want you to love me?' she repeated my question 'I don't know,' she said 'Maybe I wanted you to love me for a while Maybe I want it still How do I knohat I want? If ever I knew, I ht have been content But why do I tell such lies? Or more to the point, why do I believe them? I wanted you thus from the very first moht or a handful of nights after And I resolved to leave you strong, I told you so, and so we go back to Arion, and he will leave you hungry again, won't you? Sweet Master?¡¯

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" 'Dare I talk of the things I saw in the blood?' I asked her

" 'Try me,' she said in her new kindly manner, 'and if I detest what you say, who knohat I will do? Not even I know What did you see in the blood?¡¯

" 'When you fought in the arena, was it to the death?¡¯

" 'Oh, always,' she said 'Noeren't you a student of old Roladiators I was only one of the finest, and always a favorite of the crowd I was as you know me now, vicious I stayed alive in those years by viciousness It was natural It was expected And I took to it with a raging simplicity ¡¯

"She beamed as she looked at me

" 'It was Arion who tamed my heart,' she went on 'It was Arion who turned me fro of cas I ave me rubies and emeralds, and I made whole stories for Arion in shell -- the victories of ehout the empire All day I bent over my workbench, dressed carelessly as a boy,before ht be Then night would come and so would Arion Then I beca decent, so fine for Arion ¡¯

" 'What is decent?' I asked

" 'You know, you've always known ¡¯