many mal. And now I think I’ll answer the rest of
your questions.
“My name is Pericles. I come from Quaestor.” Quaestor! Magic, distant, Imperial capital! Her
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Dream Done Green
anger at this maFs insolence was subsumed in excitement.
“You mean you’ve actually traveled all the way from the capital… to meet me?”
“There is no need to repeat,” the horse murmured, “only to confirm. It took a great deal of time and searching to find someone like you. I need someone young . . . you are that. Only a young human would be responsive to what I have to offer. I needed someone bored, and you are wealthy as well as young.”
“I’m not bored,” Casperdan began defiantly, but he ignored her.
“I needed someone very rich, but without a multitude of ravenous relatives hanging about. Your father is a self-made tycoon, your mother an orphan. You have no other relatives. And I needed someone with the intelligence and sensitivity to take orders from a mere mal.”
This last was uttered with a disdain alien to Casperdan. Servants were not sarcastic.
“In sum,” he concluded, “I need you.”
“Indeed?” she mused, too overwhelmed by the outrageousness of this animal’s words to compose a suitable rejoinder.
“Indeed,” the horse echoed drily.
“And what, pray tell, do you need me for?”
The horse dropped its head and seemed to consider how best to continue. It looked oddly at her.
“Laugh now if you will. I have a dream that needs fulfilling.”
“Do you, now? Really, this is becoming quite amusing.” What a story she’d have to tell at the preparty tomorrow!