disinclined to end it, and I am oddly unable to discover the wrongdoer. His Majesty asked me if you might be involved, and I rather curtly assured him to the contrary.
“Still…it could it be, Countess, that you have more magic within you than you’ve any idea, and that a simple word of yours might deliver the jester from his torment. I will be glad to discuss this possibility with you as soon as you wish—preferably in your manse’s library, which I hear is a very fine one.
“I hope you have kept well, Countess, and have now and again remembered kindly
“Your constant friend,
Cyril Dagleish Dacier,
Thaumaturge in Ordinary.
P.S.: You might at this time consider turning around and addressing a few words to the vase on your desk, which has taken the liberty of replacing its fading roses with fresh orchids.”
End
QUEEN OF TIME, contemporary magic realism
THE RYEL SAGA: A TALE OF LOVE AND MAGIC, the expanded ‘director’s cut’ single-volume edition of the duology WYSARD and LORD BROTHER
WYSARD AND LORD BROTHER: THE RYEL SAGA DUOLOGY, the one-volume edition of the original paperback versions
PENTANGLE: FIVE POINTED FABLES, which gathers together the following short stories (all available separately):
REGENERATED
THE KIND GODS
THE HEART’S DESIRE
EVERAFTER ACRES
LAST LAUGHTER