he wondered how aathia would treat him if he presented her with the rose diamond from the summit ; and the high council would not view him as a nouveau riche upstart , not him , not if he was the man who bought the ponti bridge . oh , they would all treat him better . there was no doubt of that . one by one , the man who called himself glew croll saw the jewel merchants . each reacted in his or her own way-shock or laughter , sorrow or gloom-at the news of the spell fatigue in the binding of the ponti bridge

he looked hurt in some way . '' sophia , i love you . '' '' is that a joke ? another one from you ? '' '' i am not joking , sophia . '' we stopped dancing right that moment and looked at each other quietly and gravely . '' taylor ... i ... i ... '' '' i do mean what i say , sophia

'' i do n't know how you can joke about it . '' '' you ca n't take yourself seriously all the time , '' she said with a smile . '' yeah , but ... it 's not funny , '' henry protested . '' sure it is . life 's funny . you telling me nothing about your life is funny

she stared at him while he spoke , anger burning in her eyes . eric wondered if she was even listening . he was so deranged . why 'd he have to bring that up ? it was the only action she could n't account for . it made no sense . natalia 's head cocked to the side , '' whatever ,
eric