“She could hear the rattle of hooves on stone evolve into a thunder of pursuit.”

“Outside the Weirwall, Jack could hear the thud of bodies colliding and the cries of the wounded. It seemed like a lot of noise. Even given the fact that Ellen was involved."Why'd she go out there?" Jack demanded. "Why didn't you stop her?"Brooks spat on the ground. "Have you ever tried to stop Captain Stephenson from anythin'?”

“She could Captain to his Your Majesty any time.”

“Just a rat, she repeated to herself. After all, there were rats in the palace. Human and otherwise. Could be worse.”

“Ellen could have killed me," Jack said quietly, "but she didn't. She saved my life.""How come?" Fitch demanded. "After all this?"Ellen turned scarlet and stared at the ground. "Maybe none of my opponents ever gave me flowers before," she mumbled.”

“Raisa felt relieved, yet oddly disappointed. She was the blooded princess heir, yet in servants' clothes she was apparently unrecognizable. In the stories, rulers had a natural presence about them that identified them as such, even dressed in rags.What's the nature of royalty, she wondered. Is it like a gown you put on that disappears when you take it off? Does anyone look beyond the finery? Could anyone in the queendom take her place, given the right accessories? If so, it was contrary to everything she'd ever been taught about bloodlines.”

“Ellen rose to her feet. Jack thought for a moment she was going to storm out. Instead, she picked up the pitcher of hot fudge and poured the contents onto Leesha Middleton's pink jeans and fuzzy white sweater."Oops." Ellen sat down again and went back to eating her ice cream.Leesha screamed, a sound that could be heard in Canada. Every eye in Corcoran's was on her. She slid out of the booth and swiped ineffectually at her jeans with a napkin.Then she plucked at her ruined sweater with her thumb and forefinger. "You...you...I can't believe you did that!"Ellen licked whipped cream from the back of her spoon and looked at Leesha calmly.Leesha was tiny, but she seemed to expand, like an amphibian taking on air, then she drew herself up and retrieved her pink leather purse from the bench next to Jack. It was smeared with fudge too. "You'll pay for that, I promise you," she said to Ellen in a voice that raised the gooseflesh on Jack's neck. Then she turned and left.For a moment, Corcoran's was totally silent.Ellen looked across the table at Jack's sundae. "Are you going to finish that?”