C.S. Pacat

There was a man I was supposed to meet. He’s got all these ideas about honour and fair play, and he tries to keep me from doing the wrong thing. But he’s not here right now. Unfortunately for you.’

‘And is that what you think?’ said Laurent.
‘No.’ Damen said, ‘Nikandros doesn’t know you.’
‘And you do.’

Nikandros came to stand beside him. ‘Jokaste is confined in a cell in the east wing. Do you have further orders?’
‘Strip her and send her to Vere as a slave?’ Damen didn’t move from the sill.
Nikandros said, ‘You don’t really want that.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I want it to be worse.’

Someone had kept the servants out. Someone had kept everyone out.

hated you,’ said Laurent. ‘I hated you so badly I thought I’d choke on it. If my uncle hadn’t stopped me, I would have killed you. And then you saved my life, and every time I needed you, you were there, and I hated you for that, too.’

He won’t kill you,’ said Laurent. ‘But I will.’

The child was never yours, but he is safe. In another life, he would have been a king.

I remember the way you looked at me, the day we met. Perhaps that, too, in another life.

Jokaste

To gain everything and lose everything in the space of a moment. That is the fate of all princes destined for the throne. Laurent had said that.

You look like a wall tapestry.’ Nikandros plucked at Damen’s sleeve, amused by red velvet, fastenings of garnet, and small, exquisitely sewn rows of ruching.

‘I miss you,’ said Laurent. ‘I miss our conversations