“You didn't know I could do that, did you?" he asked, conversationally."I did not, Your Majesty," Teleus gasped."My grandfather killed a man that way once, using the edge of the wooden sword.""I hadn't realized the Thieves of Eddis were so warlike.""They aren't, mostly. But like all men, Teleus, I have two grandfathers." Teleus rolled his eyes to look up at him, and the king said, "One of mine was Eddis.""Ah," said Teleus."Ah, indeed," said the king.”

“Where are my guards, Teleus?" He was still speaking softly. Three men dead and he wasn't even breathing hard, Costis noted.”

“What’s that mean?” Eddie asked. “I hate it when you start up with your Zen Buddhist shit, Roland.” “It means I don’t know,” Roland said. “Who is this man Zen Buddhist? Is he wise like me?” Eddie looked at Roland for a long, long time before deciding the gunslinger was making one of his rare jokes. “Ah, get outta here...”

“You have only to lift your hand,' Thorkel Fostri said. And after a moment, 'What else were you born for?''Why not happiness, like other men?" Thorfinn said.'You have that,' said his foster-father. 'But if you try to trap it, it will change. Why do you resist? It is your right.''I resist because it is no use resisting,' Thorfinn said. 'Do you not think that is unfair? I shall be King because I was King; and I shall die because I did die; and did I remember them, I could even tell what are the three ways it might befall me.”

“It might have been preferable," Eddis admitted, dryly, "if you had thrown off your chains of bondage solely for love of me. It would certainly have been more flattering." Standing so near to him, she was looking up into his face and watching it closely. "I am willing to accept, however, that we are real people, not characters in a play. We do not, all of us, need to be throwing inkwells. If we are compatible with one another, is that not sufficient?""Were I a king in more than just name, it would be all, all I dreamed of," said Sounis, and it was Eddis who blushed."You wish to wait, then, until you are confirmed as Sounis?""If...""When," said Eddis, firmly."Yes," said Sounis, "then.”

“Do you really want to know why you lost?” I asked.“Do you really have an answer?” he countered.“You need to get off your horse and run with your men. You don’t have the stamina for a long fight. And find a lighter sword.”“But it was my uncle’s.”“You’re not your uncle.”“But I’m the King, and this is the King’s sword,” Cahil said. His brows creased together. He seemed confused.“So wear it to your coronation,” I said. “If you use it in battle, you’ll be wearing it to your funeral,” I said.”