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And so too for the deaths of friends and the...
10:53, 2010-Feb-1
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And so too for the deaths of friends and the sudden terrors of an occupied impoverished cityThe larger losses, the implications for the future, she couldn't really grasp back then
Many in the city had gone mad that year
Others had fled, taking their children away to try to shape a life far from the burning or the memory of burning, of hammers smashing into the statues of the Princes in the long covered loggia of the Palace by the SeaSome had withdrawn so far into themselves, a madness of another kind, that only the merest spark was left within to make them eat and sleep and somehow walk through the waste spaces of their days
Her mother had been one of those
On the balcony in Chiara so many years later, Dianora looked up at Scelto and realized, from the blinking concern in his face, that she'd been silent for too longShe'd been here for a long time; she was good at dissemblingAt smiling when it was balenciaga fashion bag needfulEven with Scelto whom she hated to deceiveAnd especially with Brandin, whom she had to deceive, or die
"lassica is not a concern," she said mildly, resuming the conversation as if nothing had happenedIndeed, nothing had happened, only old memories come backNothing of weight or import in the world, nothing that mattered or could matter
She said, skillfully laughing, "She is far too unintelligent to divert him and too young to relax him as Solores doesI'm glad of your information though, I think we can use itTell me, is Tesios growing weary tending her? Should I speak to Vencel about assigning someone younger? Or perhaps more than one?"
She made him smile, even as he flushed againIt always seemed to go this wayIf she could make them smile or laugh it would brush away the clouds like a wind, a springtime or an autumn wind, leaving behind the high clear blue of the sky
Dianora wished, with an tiffany and co earrings uk aching heart, that she'd known how to do that eighteen years agoFor her mother and her brotherFor both of them so long agoNo laughter anywhere, and the blue skies a mockery, looking down upon ruin
Vencel, more awesomely obese every time she saw him, approved Solores's gown, Nesaia's, Chylmoene's, and then her ownOnly the four of them, experienced enough to know how to cope with the exigencies of a formal reception, were going down to the Audience ChamberThe envy in the saishan during the past week had been acute enough to produce a scent, Scelto had said wryly more than onceDianora hadn't noticed; she was used to it
Vencel's shrewd eyes widened from deep in the manifold creases of his dark face as he studied herShe had the gem on her brow, set in a band of white gold that held back her hairSprawled on his couch of pillows, the head of the saishan played with the billowing folds of his elephantine chanel bags collection white robeThe sun shining through the arch of a window behind him glinted distractingly from his bald head
"I do not recall that stone among our treasures," he murmured in his high, disconcerting voiceIt was a voice so utterly inconsequential that it might lead one to underestimate the speakerWhich, as a good many people had discovered over the years, was a serious, sometimes a mortal mistake
"It isn't," Dianora replied cheerfully"Though after we return this afternoon may I ask you to guard it in my name among the other treasures?"
Scelto's suggestion, thatVencel could be corrupt and venal about a great many things, but not when it came to the formal aspects of his officeHe was too clever for thatAgain, a truth some had paid the ultimate price to discover
He nodded benignly now"It seems a very fine stone from this distance Obediently, Dianora stepped nearer and inclined her head graciously to let fendi big bags him see it more clearlyThe scent of tainflowers that he always wore after winter's end enveloped herIt was too sweet, but not unpleasant
She had feared Vencel once, a fear mixed of physical revulsion at his grossness and rumors of the things he liked to do with the younger castrates and some of the women who were in the saishan for purely political reasons, with no hope of ever seeing the outside world or the west wing of the palace and Brandin's chambersLong ago though she and the saishan head had reached their understandingSolores had the same unspoken pact with Vencel, and out of the delicate balance achieved thereby the three of them controlled, as best they could, their enclosed, over-intense, incense-laden world of idle, frustrated women, and half-men
With a surprisingly delicate finger Vencel touched the gem on her brow"A good stone," he said again, this time in judgmentHis breath was louis vuitton pink handbag fragrant
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