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Apollonius sighs “Please don’t insultyou still labor under the notion that you alone in history are an innocent arels I’ve seen Gold scalps hanging froht but powder and ht on Luna? On Earth and Mars? Hypocrisy is not beco of either master or hound Especially ones who ally themselves with Obsidians”
“Thethat it isn’t true It hole tribes that sacked Luna after Octavia’s death and ravaged its citizens—low- and highColor alike TooSefi Compromises were made Always compromises
“I was an agent of war, like you,” Apollonius continues “We played the saht Punished And I used the devices nature and nurture provided reat hilarity is that, in runts at that “Solitude can be the best society You see, I encountered a perilous choice when I faced your tribunal and received the terms of my sentence A choice that helped me define myself
“After life ie was left for me in my cell by which I was to erase myself from existence Left by you, Sevro? No matter The more cowardly exa the sha an empire more than their hearts could bear Your late friend Fabii, for exa their songs? Does anyone speak their glory?”
He lets the silence answer
“I kneas end to survive this trial But I was still crippled by ed reat bulwarks of oak and five score cannon All my life I have sailed smooth seas and waters that parted for me by virtue of ic existence, if ever there was one
“But at long last: a stor brine, my cannon brittle, poet I foundered upon the storhs “And it was my own fault”
I war betanting to punch hi hie man with a seductive presence Even as an enemy, his flamboyance fascinated me Purple capes in battle A horned Minotaur hel all challengers He even broadcast opera as his men bombarded cities
After sohis narrative upon us
“My peril is thus: I areat tastes In a world replete with temptation, I found my spirit ard and easy to distract The idea of prison, that naked, metal world, crushed me The first year, I was torel ‘The mind is its own place, and in itself can ht to make the deep not just my heaven, but my womb of rebirth
“I dissected the underlying mistakes which led to my incarceration and set upon an internal odyssey to re is the road up out of hell! I ements for supplies I toiled twenty hours a day I reread the books of youth
with the gravity of age I perfected my body My ht in the fires of solitude All for the next storm
“Now I see it is upon on of Apollonius au Valii-Rath And I ask one question: for what purpose have you pulled me from the deep?”
“Bloodyhell, did you memorize that?” Sevro mutters
The man before o His vanity has remained, but now it is a hardened, sharpened sort Once, he was a vulture of the Society Instigating duels for fun Throwing orgies that would last for days He and Karnus au Bellona were even longti for a reason to exist, to escape the nihilism of tedium Then war came