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“Did you know the Reaper?” Dioround Grandht talkativethat they never notice anything until the jaws of the trap close around their legs The key to learning, to power, to having the final say in everything, is observation By all means, be a storm inside, but save your movement and wind till you know your purpose It’s a pity Darrow and Fitchner au Barca were better students than the last generation of Gold

“I did not know hiustus’s lancer,” Cassius answers “Peerless don’t socialize with men like me” He taps his scarless face

“Then you’ve come up in the world,” Bellerephon says

“Did you ever see hiht?” Diomedes asks

“Once”

“They say he slayed the Storht of Earth and defeated Apollonius au Valii-Rath in single combat They say he is a true blademaster, the heir of Arcos That not even Aja au Griainst hiainst that claim I almost break my silence

“They say s,” Cassius replies

“What was your measure of him?”

Cassius shrugs “Overrated”

Dioh

“Diomedes is the Sword of Io A blademaster,” Seraphina says proudly “One of six left in the Rim He also studied with Arcos on Europa—became a stormson”

I feel a spike of envy

“Lorn taught me how to fish with Alexandar and Drusilla,” Dioifts” The understatement of the millennium “He had no desire to make better warriors, only better men”

“In that he succeeded” Seraphina smiles at her brother “One day, Diomedes will test the Reaper for himself”

Bellerephon watches as Dios I s respect We eat in silence for a time I nurse the small fish on my plate Cassius is already finished with his Always a man of appetites I’m more practiced than he in the art of self-deprivation at the dinner table