“He should have known someone like Lucien de Malheur would offer no loyalty, no male solidarity.”

“They had known each other for many years. Young Jacob had found his way onto a ship borne for the tropics, indentured to a pair of wealthy male planters, and he’d run away, ending up at the decaying ruins of La Briere, the plantation house of the de Malheurs. Lucien had been living there alone, the only survivor of a virulent outbreak of cholera, and the two young men, barely more than boys, had bonded together, determined to escape.”

“Hephaistion had known for many ages that if a god should offer him one gift in all his lifetime, he would choose this. Joy hit him like a lightning-bolt.”

“Solidarity was admirable; loyalty was the person standing next to you when the devil came to call.”

“Mon malheur est de tout comprendre”

“Est-ce un malheur si grand que de cesser de vivre?”