“No problem, but just know that no one steals from Nero. He knows who you are and he will hunt you down and make you pay in ways you can’t imagine – including this whole brain squeeze thing he does that will leave you with a migraine so bad, you’ll wish you could bleed out your eyes to stop the pain. He’s nasty that way. (Syn)”

“You can’t. He has it shielded. Besides, he’s a god and can be a nasty one if you upset him. You try popping into any place where his beloved wife is and you’ll get fried faster than chicken at KFC. He doesn’t have a sense of humor when it comes to her. So wipe the frown off your face before you hurt her feelings and get gutted for it. (Phobos)”

“So I take it you guys are going to stay inside my flat and not out in the hallway like my father’s guards? (Kiara)You know that’s the most pathetic way to guard someone. (In a falsetto he added.) Please protect my life by being outside so that when they come in and kill me you can’t hear it. (Syn)”

“By the way, you guys seriously screwed up just now. (Nero)We know. (They said in unison.)Yeah, well, what you don’t know is how grateful your girl is to you. I just thought you should know that you guys are a hero to her…and she thinks we’re all idiots. (Nero)”

“My son has few friends and even fewer who know him for what he is. So long as you protect him, you live. Sumerian or not. But if you prove false in anything you’ve said here today, I will bring a wrath down on you so sever that you will spend eternity trying to dig out your own brains to alleviate the pain of it. (Apollymi)”

“I feel I should warn you, I’m in a really bad mood. (Syn)You’ll be in a worse mood when we haul you in dead! (a Partini)‘Syn grimaced in pain at a comment so stupid it didn’t even rate a snotty comeback.’ (Syn)”

“(He took a drink of the juice and cursed.)What is this shit? Poison? (Syn)You can’t live on alcohol. (Nykyrian)Wanna bet? (Syn)Wanna die? Drink it and quit bitching. (Nykyrian)You know, you’re a little hairy to be my mother. (Syn)”