“You remind me of him. He was the best man I have ever known.”

“I wanted to tell you that, because you,"said Laurent, as though he was forcingthe words out, "You remind me of him.He was the best man I have ever known.You deserve to know that, as youdeserve atleast a fair . . . In Arles, I treated youwith malice and cruelty. I will not insultyou by attempting to atone for deedswith words, but I would not treat youthat way again. I was angry. Angry, thatisn't the word.”

“I should make you watch, said Laurent, while he's stripped down for every man in the troop to have him."Damen stepped forward. "You don't mean this. You need him as a hostage.""I don't need him continent," said Laurent.”

“That isn't why. She would have chosen him even if you'd had royal blood in your veins, even if you'd had the same blood as Kastor. You don't understand the way a mind like that thinks. I do. If I were Jokaste and a king maker, I'd have chosen Kastor over you too.' 'I suppose you are going to enjoy telling me why,' said Damen. He felt his hands curl into fists, heard the bitterness in his throat. 'Because a king maker would always choose the weaker man. The weaker the man, the easier he is to control.”

“Let him come to Charcy, with his hithertos and his wherefores, and there he will find me, and with all the might of my kingdom I will scourge him from the field."And if you want a personal message," said Laurent, "You can tell my uncle boykiller that he can cut the head off every child from here to the capital. It won't make him into a king, it will simply mean he has no one left to fuck.”

“To Laurent, in the same voice, he said, 'Calm down.'Laurent said, 'I wasn't finished.''Finished what?' Reducing every man in the room? Jord isn't any kind of match for you in this mood, and you know it. Calm down.'Laurent gave him the kind of look a swordsman gives as he decides whether or not to slice his unarmed enemy in half.”

“Auguste preferred women. He told me I would grow into it. I told him that he could get heirs and I would read books. I was . . . nine? Ten? I thought I was already grown up. The hazards of overconfidence.”