“Think he'll kill him?" anotherspeculated.Damen knew the answer to that question.Laurent was not going to kill him. Hewas going to break him.Here, in front of everyone.”

“He killed, his sword shearing, shield and horse a ram, pushing in, and further in, opening a space by force alone for the momentum of the men behind him. Beside him a man fell to a spear in the throat. To his left, an equine scream as Rochert's horse went down.In front of him, methodically, men fell, and fell, and fell.He split his attention. He swept a sword cut aside with his shield, killed a helmed soldier, and all the while flung out his mind, waiting for the moment when Touar's lines split open. The most difficult part of commanding from the front was this--staying alive in the moment, while tracking in his mind, critically, the whole fight. Yet it was exhilarating, like fighting with two bodies, at two scales.”

“Stop enjoying yourself," Damen murmured. "We're going to be killed, any minute." "Giant animal," said Laurent. "Stop it.”

“Damen said, "If you tell him, I can'tserve him.""Tell him?" said Jord. "Tell him the manhe trusts has lied, and lied again, hasdeceived him into the worsthumiliation?""I wouldn't hurt him," said Damen, andheard the words drop like lead."You killed his brother, then got himunder you in bed.”

“I'm not going to use the knife," saidDamen, "but if you're willing to put it inmy hand, you underestimate how much Iwant to.""No," said Laurent, "I know exactly whatit is to want to kill a man, and to wait.”

“I thought killing was easy for you," said Laurent. His voice was rather quiet. "I thought you did it without thinking." "I'm a soldier," said Damen, "and I have been for a long time. I've killed on the sawdust. I've killed in battle. Is that what you mean by easy?""You know it isn't," said Laurent, in that same quiet voice.”

“This place sickened him. Anywhere else, you simply killed your enemy with a sword. Or poisoned him, if you had the honourless instincts of an assassin. Here, it was layer upon layer of constructed double-dealing, dark, polished and unpleasant. He would have assumed tonight the product of Laurent's own mind, if Laurent were not so clearly the victim.”