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"We Peerless Scarred come from Golden ancestors From conquerors with spines of iron Honorable men, honorable women But before you today, I see a family that is dishonorable A family with spines made of chalk A corrupt and fraudulent family of liars and cowards that conspires to stealplate with my boots Who knows if they conspire to do it or not? It sounds good It seems like they conspire And it’s the mask I need the out his razor and surging toward me His father, the Irab ney would no doubt cut irls of their family think me a demon A demon that killed their cousin, brother They have no idea what I really arief, she sits surrounded by her brood like a withered lioness They look to her asof her long right hand, as though it aches for a knife hich to cut ed by this faain at the Academy by that one … and this one … and that one" I point out all those who beat ardens I see Cassius now near the head of the table, just by his father andsits beside him Her face a mask Disappointed? Upset? Bored? When she quirks an eyebrow at me, I e of the wine decanter that sits in front of Cassius All eyes focus there, like light falling into a black hole Pausing ti all forward Breaths catch "All courts of Golden law perainst any force that would desecrate it unjustly Froht of challenge exists for any entle lords and ladies, is Darrow au Andromedus My honor has been pissed upon And I demand satisfaction"

I tip the wine over onto Cassius’s lap

He explodes up at rand party burst up froreat roar Tactus rushes from our table, joined with Leto, Victra, all of the aides and bannermen of the vassals to e Telemanuses, Pax’s family Razors snap into hands Curses splinter the winter air Aja, the largest and darkest of the Furies, leans down fron’s table and bellows, "Stop this un

My hands shake like they used to in the mine Now, as then, serpents surround me

You could never hear them, the pitvipers Could rarely see them Black as pupils, they slither in the shadows till they strike But there’s a fear that co of the drill Separate fro heat that builds in your balls as you carve through aa bog of piss and sweat inside your suit It’s fearing the co of death Like a shadow has passed across your soul

That fear fills me now as these Peerless stand aroundDeadly as sin

Snow on the ground crunches under n speaks She tells of honor and tradition How reatness of our race, so shegrounds This bloodfeud ust of our race So confident is she in her newest Olyht But ouldn’t she be? He’s killed me before

"Unlike the cowards of old, we settle flesh to flesh Bone to bone Blood to blood Vendettas die in the Bleeding Place virtute et arn recites

By valor and arms No doubt she has already spoken to her advisors They will say I am outmatched, that Cassius is the better swordsone this far if she hadn’t been assured a beneficial outcoain to the death," she declares "Are there any contentions?"

I hoped for this

Neither Cassius nor I say a thing Mustang steps forward to object, but the Fury, Aja, shakes her head, stopping her