Scott Lynch

”Is this man, ah, senile?”

”He’s absolutely competent,” she answered coldly.

”I assure you I am,” roared Cordo. Anger changed his countenance utterly. ”And I will not be put off from business by assassins in my own bedroom! Now, you will either kill me immediately or negotiate the price of my release!”

I make it a point never to trust men with weapons to my windpipe.

“When I get this door open, you’re dead, Jean!“

“When you get that door open? I look forward to many long years of life, then.“

“We met five years ago.“ Jean scratched his beard. “On a sea voyage. We became business partners out of sheer boredom. Since then we‘ve been inseparable.“

“Except that my plan calls for me to be plotting your death.“

“Yes, but I don‘t know that, do I? Boon companion! I suspect nothing.“

“Chump! I can hardly wait to see you get yours!“

Master Kosta...What a pleasure! Selendri tells me you’ve expressed an interest in getting killed.

In time, you’ll come to understand that a state like ours cannot afford to offer up a show of weakness for honesty’s sake; Duke Nicovante charges me with vouchsafing his security, not his conscience.

I’m losing my taste for subtlety as fast as I’m depleting my supply.

“This entire situation is insane.” Jean slammed his book shut in disgust.

“It was insane before; now it’s become malicious.”

“We already know how too—”

“I don’t care what you think you know, Kosta. Until further notice, we’re gonna presume that you’re too dumb to count to one.”

I’m sure we can communicate. I speak fluent hatchet.

“‘Commonly thought,’ you say? Many things are commonly thought, but perhaps not commonly thought all the way through.”

“You needed a bath,“ Jean interrupted. “You were covered in self-pity.“