“What an idiot I'd been. What a spoilt brat. What a bloody fool.”

“Internally I marveled at what a blathering idiot I'd become.”

“Ned knew what it was like to feel useless. He had been the expendable grandchild, the non-heir. He'd been the fool, the idiot, the one who could be counted on to muck up anything worth doing. His grandfather had expected nothing of Ned, and Ned, young idiot that he had been, had delivered spectacularly.”

“Don't you know, you idiot, that that is what every fool of a woman says about her child?Miss Bulstrode's thoughts.”

“What a curious kind of fool a girl is. Never been licked in school. What's a licking?”

“A small fireball hit him in the face. He again looked at his sister, smoke still curling out from her human nostrils. "What brat?""I said she'll want to return to her men as soon as she can.""I know." His sister smiled up at him. "And will you be ready for that, idiot?""It's Lord Idiot to you." Fearghus rested his head on his crossed forearms. "And yes, brat. I will be.”