“Calf love doesn't usually survive amputation, Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty, you just-" Costis stopped."Just what?" the king prompted wickedly.Nothing would induce Costis to say out loud that the king had almost fallen from the palace wall and that Costis had seen him manifestly saved by the God of Thieves.The king smiled. "Cat got your tongue?""Your Majesty, you are drunk," Costis pleaded."I am. What's your excuse?”

“One of us might be assassinated and then my heir will be king. Don't give up hope just because chances are slim.""For the assassination or the heir, your majesty?”

“Costis bowed stiffly. “I am here to make sure that you stay in bed, Your Majesty, because if this offends you and you order me summarily executed, it is no loss. Politically speaking.”

“When we opened the doors, we saw that the entire room was scorched black and you were on the floor possibly dead, surrounded by broken glass. Window glass is expensive, you realize that?""Yes, Your Majesty," he said meekly.”

“He looked gravely at the king. "It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself. But no matter, Your Majesty. You are revealed at last."The king looked down at his nakedness and back at the captain."Was that a joke?" he asked.”

“Ornon said, "I have seen him jump across atriums four stories above the ground, a distance that would make your blood freeze, and I heard him once confess that he sometimes thinks the distance is beyond him. He always jumps, Your Majesty. The Thieves are not trained in self-preservation. I beg you would take my advice.”