was puzzling, but he did not have the energy to puz
zle it out right now. He knew
better than to ask Nico, who had been a very quiet child, and was now an
extremely private young man. Rory, his second child, insisted on making really
dreadful jokes, as if he could not bear the general gloom that had settled over
Darkov Castle. He had managed to annoy everyone, provoking his sister Yllana, his
foster-sister Alanna, and Ida Davidson, who was usually impervious to the
behavior of adolescents. Even Marguerida, who ordinarily found Rory's antics
amusing, was ready, she said, to send the thirteen-year-old to Nevarsin, where
the cristoforo monks would teach him some manners. Rory just grinned, completely
unafraid of this threat, as he was of almost anything. It was a shame he was not
q
