“Then, in the spirit of benevolence, "Your face is well balanced." She slapped him encouragingly on the back, "You have very long eyelashes. Like a cow.”

“This is close quarters.’ ‘Close enough to see your eyelashes,’ said Damen.”

“She was intelligent, accomplished, beautiful. She was everything I could have asked for in a woman. But she was a king maker. She wanted power. She must have thought her only path to the throne was through Kastor.' 'My honourable barbarian. I wouldn't have picked that as your type.' 'Type?' 'A pretty face, a devious mind and a ruthless nature.”

“I'm not sure that's quite what I asked,"said Laurent. His voice had the samequality as his gaze. "This is closequarters.""Close enough to see your eyelashes,"said Damen. "It's lucky you do not havethe size to breed great warriors.”

“He didn't reprimand Damen. He didn't seem particularly displeased with barbaric behavior, as long as it was directed outward. Like a man who enjoys owning an animal who will rake others with its claws but eat peacefully from his own hand, he was giving his pet a great deal of license.As a result, courtiers kept one eye on Damen, giving him a wide berth. Laurent used that to his advantage, using the propensity of courtiers to fall back in reaction to Damen's presence as a means of extricating himself smoothly from conversation.The third time this happened Damen said, 'Shall I make a face at the ones you don't like, or is it enough to just look like a barbarian?”

“Laurent wasn't loved. Laurent wasn't liked. Even among his own men, who would follow him off a cliff, there was the unequivocal consensus that Laurent was, as Orlant had once described him, a cast iron bitch, that it was a very bad idea to get on his bad side, and that as for his good side, he didn't have one.”

“Stay back, old man. It isn't your business. This is the Prince of Vere.' 'But---I only paid three coppers for him,' said Volo, sounding confused.”