after about an hour they heard the slow plodding of another horse coming up the rutted road from emsat . the horse stopped at the top of the hill . ' sparhawk ? ' the quiet voice was vaguely familiar . sparhawk quickly put his hand to his sword hilt , and he and sephrenia exchanged a quick glance . ' i know you 're in there somewhere , sparhawk

'' oh , my lady , i am so sorry . '' she came over to scoop up christopher from winter 's arms before turning back to isabel . '' it wo n't happen again , my lady , i promise . '' isabel still had her back to the room . '' please see that it does n't . '' poor carruthers blanched before curtsying and hurrying out the door with christopher

'' despite my current situation , i 've actually made a lot of progress . as i mentioned before , i 've made many friendships and have built an entire army that has rejected the ways of this tyrannical leadership . '' '' about that , '' alex paused . '' i found the box . '' mara looked at her a moment , then asked , '' what box

occasionally i was lucky though . ' ' that 's good . what is it that you say in your country about the consequences of always working and never taking time off ? ' ' all work and no play makes jack a dull boy . ' ' that 's it . ' she grinned . ' but i think you were never
dull