Leicester stared fixedly at the image before him, the color bleached from his face by its brilliance. Seph sensed the headmaster's mind questing out, trying to discover and destroy the wizard behind the image, but finding nothing, no trail of magic, no stone, no flesh and blood to focus on. Jason Haley, the puppeteer, was safely ensconced in the gallery above.

You do not respond to an attempt on your life with a slap on the hand. Or a joke.

I've found it wise to enjoy any time of truce, while recognizing it for what it is. A truce.

If you want to be a writer, you must be in love with the process of writing, whether you achieve financial success or not.

Plus he was naturally lucky at cards. As Mam had always said, lucky at cards, or lucky at life. One or the other. Not both.

As for my family, my father was Danel; he died as a mercenary in the southern wars," Han went on. "My mother's name was Sarah, called Sali, and my sister was Mari. They died last summer. But then, you already knew that. Every time you forget, I'll remind you. That's the blood sacrifice I made to be here, and that's enough.

You look like a boy who has eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge and doesn't like the taste.