“He stepped forward and punched Dorian in the face, hard enough that I heard a thwack."Ow," moaned Dorian, wincing from the pain. "My greatest asset.”

“You used your power to toss one rock at me?" he exclaimed, an almost comic note of incredulity in his voice. "On the contrary," I heard Dorian say pleasantly. "I didn't use magic for that. I just threw it.”

“Is he having a party?" "Dorian is a sociable king. He likes keeping people around him, mostly so he can mock them.”

“Everything‟s fine,” I said, with a tight smile. “Kiyo was just giving me his latest explanation about how my son is a terror to be feared.” Dorian scoffed. “Little Thundro? A terror? Hardly, unless perhaps we‟re discussing diapers.”

“Dorian used to watch you like a starving man who wants meat. Now he looks at you like he wants seconds.”

“Nothing happened here, okay? None of this did.”His eyebrows rose. “Really? Because I could have sworn that something happened when my hand was between your—”“No!”- Dorian and Eugenie”

“Oh,” she said. “You can rest assured that I will kill him. Mostly this is to emphasize what I said before: no more time to lounge around and decide with no consequences. For every moment you waste deliberating today, the Oak King will be in the hands of my torturers, experiencing the most excruciating pain. Your delay extends that agony.”“Oh, irony,” murmured Dorian.”