Damen's Quotes

#1. Damen's understanding of Laurent rearranged itself, in order that he might despise him more accurately.

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#2. For a moment he thought Laurent wasn't going to do it. But in public, Laurent had no recourse to refusal. Laurent extended his hand. And then waited, palm outstretched, his eyes lifting to meet Damen's. Laurent said, 'Put it on me.' Every

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#3. Damen's The One.
Always has been.
Always will be.

Alyson Noel

#4. You look like a whore.' The soft words barely stirred the air by Damen's ear, inaudible to anyone else. Laurent murmured: 'Filthy painted slut. Did you spread for my uncle the way you did for Kastor?

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#5. You fill me with horror," said Jord. His
hands were tight on his knife. Both his
hands, now.
"Captain," a voice called. "Captain!"
Damen's eyes were on Jord's face.
"That's you," Jord said.

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#6. Rumours of Damen's enslavement in Vere had spread like fire through the camp. To see the Veretian Prince wear the gold cuff of a palace bed slave in turn was shocking, intimate, a symbol of Damen's ownership. Damen

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#7. Laurent's fair skin and blue eyes were a combination that was rare in Patras, rarer in Akielos, and a particular weakness of Damen's.

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#8. Now, now." He smiles, "Don't you worry 'bout a thing. Damen's right where you left him. Though I must say I can't believe that you left him. I underestimated you. I had no idea. Though I can't help but wonder how Damen would feel if he knew. I bet he underestimated you too.

Alyson Noel

#9. After two solid weeks of waking up in Damen's bed, wrapped in Damen's arms, you'd think I'd have grown used to it by now.
But nope.
Not even close.
Though I could get used to it.
I'd like to get used to it.

Alyson Noel

#10. Damen's the one who loves more. He'd do anything for you. You're just along for the ride.

Alyson Noel

#11. Enguerran looked up at Damen. The last
time they had faced one another,
Enguerran had been trying to
bar Damen from Touars's hall. An
Akielon has no place in the company of
men.

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#12. The Veretian palace, afroth with ornament, paid only lip service to defence. The parapets were purposeless curving decorative spires. The slippery domes that he skirted would be a nightmare in an attack, hiding one part of the roof from the other.

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#13. Damen pushed himself up on an elbow, and propped his head on his hand, his fingers in his hair. He saw that Laurent was looking at him. Not watching him, as he did sometimes, but looking at him, as a man might look at a carving that has caught his attention.

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#14. No. Wait. I ... wait.
Damen stopped, and turned. Laurent's
gaze was edged with indecipherable
emotion, and his jaw was set
at a new angle. The silence stretched out
for such a long time that the words, when
they came, were a shock.

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#15. Contrary, aren't you,' said Damen softly, thumbing over Laurent's cheek.
'Fuck me,' said Laurent.
'I want to,' said Damen. 'Can you let me?

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#16. The cuff, unmistakably, was the twin to the one Damen wore, altered last night by a blacksmith for Laurent's finer wrist. Damen said, 'Wear it for me.' For

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#17. From the severe, straight-backed posture to the impersonal grace of his cupped yellow head; from his detached blue eyes to the arrogance of his cheekbones, Laurent was complicated and contradictory, and Damen could look nowhere else.

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#18. You seem to vacillate between assistance and assault. Which is it?'
'I'm not surprised you've driven three men to try and kill you, I'm only surprised there weren't more,' said Damen, bluntly.
'There were,' said Laurent, 'more.

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#19. Perhaps if you were not a foot taller, or quite so broad across the shoulders.'
'It's considerably less than a foot,' said Damen.
'Is it?' said Laurent. 'It feels like more when you argue with me on points of honour.

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#20. Say it,' said Damen. 'I yield.' It was gritted out. Laurent's head turned away to one side. 'I want you to know,' he said, the words thick and heavy as they pushed out of him, 'that I could have done this any time when I was a slave.

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#21. If you served the King,' said Damen, 'how is it you now find yourself in the Prince's household, and not his uncle's?' 'Men find themselves in the places they put themselves,' Paschal said, closing his satchel with a snap.

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#22. You were right about Kastor,' Damen said.
It was all he said.

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#23. Damen said, 'Men, sometimes.'
'In the absence of women?'
'When I want them.'
'If I'd known that, I might have felt a frisson of danger, lying next to you.'
'You did know that,' said Damen

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#24. I should make you watch, said Laurent, while he's stripped down for every man in the troop to have him."
Damen stepped forward. "You don't mean this. You need him as a hostage."
"I don't need him continent," said Laurent.

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#25. Damen now knew the precise number of arrows Laurent needed to have trained on him in order to shut him up. It was six.

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#26. He thought of Laurent's delicate, needling talk that froze into icy rebuff if Damen pushed at it, but if he didn't
if he matched himself to its subtle pulses and undercurrents
continued, sweetly deepening, until he could only wonder if he knew, if they both knew, what they were doing.

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#27. Because a king maker would always choose the weaker man. The weaker the man, the easier he is to control.' Damen

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#28. It's not a trick,' said Laurent. 'You'd let me go,' said Damen. This time it was Laurent who was silent, gazing back at him. Damen said, 'And - until then?' 'Until then, you are my slave, and I am your Prince, and that is how it is between us.

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#29. As the heavy latticed iron beetled above
their heads, Damen found himself
wanting it, wanting disruption, a cry of
outrage, or of challenge, wanting it as a
release to this
feeling. Traitor. Stop.
But none came.

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#30. Think he'll kill him? another
speculated.
Damen knew the answer to that question.
Laurent was not going to kill him. He
was going to break him.
Here, in front of everyone.

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#31. You broke a man today. Doesn't that affect you at all? These are lives, not pieces in a chess game with your uncle.'
'You're wrong. We are on my uncle's board and these men are all his pieces.'
'Then each time you move one of them, you can congratulate yourself on how much like him you are.

C.S. Pacat

#32. Ever, if I've learned nothing else in my six hundred years of living, it's that people hate change almost as much as they hate for their beliefs to be challenged.

Alyson Noel

#33. Damen thought that if Laurent was holding his hand, he must be dying.

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#34. I don't have sleeves to carry handkerchiefs in,' said Damen. 'I wouldn't mind being given a knife.' 'Or a fork?' said Laurent.

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#35. Damen held himself very still. This easy way of speaking of Auguste was new, and he didn't want to disturb it.
After a moment, Laurent said, 'He would have liked you.'
'Even after I started courting his little brother?' said Damen carefully.

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#36. Why? Do you want to spar? We can
keep it friendly," Damen said.
"No," said Laurent.

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#37. Trust you?' said Damen. 'You flayed the skin from my back. I have seen you do nothing but cheat and lie to every person you've encountered. You use anything and anyone to further your own ends. You are the last person I would ever trust.'
[ ... ]
'Go, then.

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#38. Having made the decision to let Damen in, Laurent had not gone back on it. When the walls went up, it was with Damen inside them. But

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#39. The collar came first, and when Guerin drew it from his neck he felt the collar's absence like a lightness, his spine unfurling, his shoulders settling.
Like a lie, cracking and dropping from him.

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#40. He felt a throb of happiness, and said nothing, just lay on his back and looked up at the stars.
"It's like old times," said Damen, though the truth was, he had never really had times like this.

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#41. Damen to Jord about Laurent: 'He needs me,' said Damen. 'I don't care if you tell the world.

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#42. This," said Laurent, "is a little more - "
It was a word of sharp points: " - intimate," he said, "than ice."
"Too intimate?" Damen said. Slowly, he was kneading Laurent's shoulders.
He did not usually think of himself as someone with suicidal impulses.

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#43. You've spent a morning with him and you're warning me off. Just wait,' said Damen, 'until you've spent a full day with him.'
'You mean that he improves with time?'
'Not exactly,' said Damen.

C.S. Pacat

#44. He was content to wait, his bare limbs on the sheets heavy, the gold slave cuffs and collar his only adornments. He felt the warm, wonderful, impossible fact of his situation. Bed slave.

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#45. I'll stay,' said Damen. 'You know I'll stay for as long as you - ' 'Don't,' said Laurent. 'Don't lie to me. Not you.' 'I'll stay,' said Damen. 'Three days. After that, I ride south.' Laurent

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#46. If he could do it, Damen could do it. He could make impersonal negotiations, speak in the formal language of kings. The ache of loss didn't make sense, because Laurent had never been his. He had known that.

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#47. What makes you think Kastor is the weaker man? you don't know him.' 'But I'm coming to know you,' said Laurent.

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#48. I want your best room,' said Laurent, 'with a big bed and a private bath, and if you send up the house boy, you'll find out the hard way that I don't like sharing.'
He delivered the innkeeper a long, cool look.
He's expensive,' said Damen to the innkeeper, by way of apology.

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#49. There was a strange doubling, brother for brother, Laurent close as Auguste has been, and Damen even less defended, Laurent's fingers on te place where he had been run through.

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#50. So he's tame,' said Estienne, and reached out tentatively, as though to pat a wild animal.
It was a question of which part of the animal he was patting. Damen cknocked his hand away. Estienne gave a yelp and snatched his hand back, nursing it against his chest.
'No that tame,' said Laurent.

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#51. Laurent said, 'I didn't think anyone was good enough to get past your guard.' 'One person,' said Damen.

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#52. Coiled and personal, Laurent's gift was a Veretian whip, made of gold.
Damen recognized it.
[ ... ]
His gaze flung to Laurent. He knew he had flushed, he could feel the heat in his own cheeks. In front of the gathered generals, he couldn't say, What have you done?

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#53. Damen knew that he had to lie. It was beyond dangerous to talk about this with Laurent.

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#54. It's me,' said Damen. 'It's me, here with you. Say my name.' 'Damianos.' He

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#55. Congratulations,' said Damen. 'You've forced my hand. You have what you want. Delpha, in exchange for your aid in the south. Nothing given freely, nothing done out of feeling, everything coerced, with bloodless planning.' 'Then I have your agreement? Say it.' 'You have my agreement.' 'Good,

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#56. The Crown Prince was camped at Nesson this very minute, on his way to the border to stand up to Akielos. He was a young man serious about his responsibilities, Charls said. Damen had to make an effort not to look over at Laurent, gambling, when he said it.

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#57. Guilliame came to talk to him, since they were the same rank.
'Lamen. That's an unusual name.'
'It's Patran,' said Damen.
'You speak very good Akielon,' he said, loudly and slowly.
'Thank you,' said Damen.

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#58. You can't change generational poverty by sitting on your ass. Let's get to work!

Damen Lopez

#59. By that time, Damen had received the tally of the dead: twelve hundred of us, six and a half thousand of them. He

C.S. Pacat

#60. He was under no illusion that he was going to be taken to the campfire to roll around with Laurent. If anything, he was going to be taken to the campfire to watch Laurent do some inventive sidestepping.

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#61. I'm not sure that's quite what I asked,"
said Laurent. His voice had the same
quality as his gaze. "This is close
quarters."
"Close enough to see your eyelashes,"
said Damen. "It's lucky you do not have
the size to breed great warriors.

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#62. Your inclination appears to be much as
it was last night."
Damen found himself saying, "You talk
the same in bed," and the words came
out sounding like he felt: helplessly
charmed.

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#63. Charcy is claimed for Akielos.' As he rose, Damen wrapped his hand around its wooden pole and planted it in the earth. The

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#64. I'm not going to use the knife," said
Damen, "but if you're willing to put it in
my hand, you underestimate how much I
want to."
"No," said Laurent, "I know exactly what
it is to want to kill a man, and to wait.

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#65. Stop enjoying yourself," Damen murmured. "We're going to be killed, any minute."
"Giant animal," said Laurent.
"Stop it.

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#66. Damen was smiling helplessly. 'that was adequate.' 'You've been waiting to say that.' The words were only a little blurred.

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#67. He wasn't sure how it would be, but
when Laurent saw who was beside him,
he smiled, the expression a
little shy but completely genuine.
Damen, who hadn't been expecting it,
felt the single painful beat of his heart.
He'd never thought Laurent could look
like that at anyone.

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#68. You really do have ice in your veins,
don't you, said Damen.

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#69. How can you trust me, after what your own brother did to you?"
"Because he was false", said Damen, "and you are true. I have never known a truer man.

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#70. You just surprised me,' said Damen. 'Sometimes I think I understand you, and at other times I can't make you out at all.'
'Believe me, that sentiment is mutual.

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#71. I would court you, with all the grace and courtesy that you deserve,

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#72. This is close quarters.'
'Close enough to see your eyelashes,' said Damen.

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#73. Friends,' said Laurent, 'Is that what we are?'
[ ... ]
Damen said, with helpless honesty, 'Laurent, I am your slave.

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#74. Order whatever punishment you like, from the coward's distance of a chain-lenght. You and Govart are two of a kind.

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#75. Damen felt it then, the first dizzy edge of new emotion, and he let go his hold of Laurent like a man fearing a precipice; and yet was helpless.

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#76. Of course, I didn't kill them. They're just taking a little ... siesta, that's all.

Alyson Noel

#77. Damianos," Touars said. "Princekiller."
It was the last thing he said. Damen
pulled the sword out. He took a step
back.

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#78. The guard said, 'Our orders are no one in or out.'
'You can tell the Prince that,' said Damen, 'after you tell him you let through the Regent's pet.'
That got a flicker of reaction. Invoking Laurent's bad mood was like a magical key, unlocking the most forbidding doors.

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#79. After a long moment Laurent said, with painful honesty, "I ... find it difficult to let go of control."
"No kidding," said Damen.

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#80. You came', said Laurent.
'You knew I would', said Damen.
'If you need an army to take your capital', said Laurent, 'I seem to have one'
Damen let out a strange breath. They were gazing at each other. Laurent said, 'after all, I owe you a fort

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#81. Reporting to Jord, Damen found himself caught in a conversation that he wasn't ready for. 'I could tell from your face. You didn't know he could fight.' 'No,' said Damen. 'I didn't.' 'It's in his blood.' 'The Regent's men seemed just as surprised as I was.' 'He's private about it.

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#82. Torveld favoured Laurent with another of those long, admiring looks that were starting to come with grating frequency. Damen frowned. Laurent was a nest of scorpions in the body of one person. Torveld looked at him and saw a buttercup.

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#83. Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult.

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#84. Damen had half expected a gaudy parade costume, but Laurent had always defined himself against the opulence of the court. And he did not need gilt to be recognised under a parade standard, only the uncovered bright of his hair.

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#85. Damen said, 'I made him a promise.'
'And when he learns who you are?' said Jord. 'When he learns that he is facing Damianos on the field?'
'Then he and I meet each other for the first time,' said Damen. 'That was also a promise.

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#86. You're in a strange mood,' said Damen. 'Stranger than usual.'
'I'd say I'm in a good mood.'
'A good mood.'
'Well, not as good a mood as Volo,' said Laurent. 'But the food's decent, the fire's warm, and no one's tried to kill me in the last three hours. Why not?

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#87. And any hope Damen had that Laurent
could control this scene ended as
Laurent's face shuttered, as his eyes went
cold, and with the sharp sound of steel,
his sword came out of its sheath.

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#88. Don't think, he'd said, because it was easier than saying, Take me for who I am.
He couldn't bear that suddenly. He wanted it without pretences, without excuses, his fingers curling hard into Laurent's hair.
'It's me,' said Damen. 'It's me, here with you. Say my name.'
'Damianos.

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#89. Why do you give me good advice?"
asked Laurent.
Isn't that why you brought me with
you? Instead of speaking those words
aloud, Damen said, "Why don't you take
any of it?

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#90. I'm glad you're here,' said Laurent. 'I always thought that I'd have to face my uncle alone.'
He turned to look at Damen, and their eyes met.
'You're not alone,' said Damen.
Laurent didn't answer, but he did give a smile, and reached out to touch Damen, wordlessly.

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#91. There was a warmth in his chest whenever he looked at Laurent. He didn't look often for that reason.

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#92. He loved the way that Laurent kissed, as if Damen was the only person that he had ever kissed, or would ever want to. The

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#93. It's what I came here last night to say. I'm going to take care of it.' 'Promise me,' Damen heard himself say. 'Promise me we won't let him - ' 'I promise.' Laurent

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#94. If you were a pet, I would have gifted you enough by now to buy out your contract, many times over."
"I'd still be here," said Damen, "with you.

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#95. He did remember being supported by two of the guards, here, in this room, while Radel stared at his back in horror. "The Prince really . . . did this?" "Who else?" Damen said. Radel

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#96. I remember. You take a great deal of
pleasure in small victories." Damen
quoted Laurent's words back to him.
"It's not small," said Laurent. "It's the
first time I've ever won a play against
my uncle.

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#97. You're better than I am.'
Damen couldn't help his amused breath of reaction to that, or the long, scrolling look from Laurent's head to his toes and back again, which was probably a little insulting. But really.

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#98. Laurent flushed. The colour hit his
cheeks hard, and a muscle tightened in
his jaw as whatever he felt was forcibly
repressed. It was not like any reaction
that Damen had ever seen from him
before, and he couldn't resist pushing it a
little further.

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#99. Laurent asked, 'Is it different than with a man?' 'Yes,' said Damen. It was different with everyone. He didn't say this aloud;

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#100. Laurent said, 'What do you think of Jord?'
'I like him,' said Damen. 'You should be pleased with him. He was the right choice for Captain.'
There was an unhurried pause. Aside from the sounds Damen made when he picked up a vambrace, the tent was quiet.
'No,' said Laurent. 'You were.

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