29
" There is no good or evil. Evil is only what we call those who oppose us.” Royce took out his dagger and drove it into the table, where it stood upright. “Look at the blade. Is it bright or dark?” Hadrian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. The brilliant surface of Alverstone was dazzling as it reflected the candlelight. “Bright.” Royce nodded. “Now move your head over here and look from my perspective.” Hadrian leaned over, putting his head on the opposite side of the blade, where the shadow made it black as chimney soot. “It’s the same dagger,” Royce explained, “but from where you sat it was light while I saw it as dark. So who is right?” “Neither of us,” Hadrian said. “No,” Royce said. “That’s the mistake people always make, and they make it because they can’t grasp the truth.” “Which is?” “That we’re both right. One truth doesn’t refute another. Truth doesn’t lie in the object, but in how we see it. "
― Michael J. Sullivan , Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4)
37
" Hadrian gestured toward the sentinel. “So, what’s going on between you and Thranic, anyway? He appears to really hate you—even more than most people.”
Royce did not look in his direction. He sat nonchalantly, pretending to ignore the world, as if they were the only two aboard. “Funny thing, that. I never met him, never heard of him until this voyage, and yet I know him rather well, and he knows me.”
“Thank you, Mr. Esrahaddon. Can you provide me with perhaps a more cryptic answer?”
Royce smiled. “I see why he does it now. It’s rather fun. "
― Michael J. Sullivan , Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4)
38
" Royce watched the courier ride out of sight before taking off his imperial uniform. Turning to face Hadrian, he said, “Well, that wasn’t so hard.”
“Will?” Hadrian asked as the two slipped into the forest.
Royce nodded. “Remember yesterday you complained that you’d rather be an actor? I was giving you a part: Will, the Imperial Checkpoint Sentry. I thought you did rather well with the role.”
“You know, you don’t need to mock all my ideas.” Hadrian frowned as he pulled his own tabard over his head. “Besides, I still think we should consider it. We could travel from town to town performing in dramatic plays, even a few comedies.” Hadrian gave his smaller partner an appraising look. “Though maybe you should stick to drama—perhaps tragedies.”
Royce glared back.
“What? I think I would make a superb actor. I see myself as a dashing leading man. We could definitely land parts in The Crown Conspiracy. I’ll play the handsome swordsman that fights the villain, and you—well, you can be the other one. "
― Michael J. Sullivan , Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4)
39
" You should have woken me. I would have taken a shift at the tiller.”
“We actually considered it when you started to snore.”
“I don’t snore!”
“I beg to differ,” Hadrian chided while chewing.
She looked around the skiff as each of them, even Etcher, nodded. Her face flushed.
Hadrian chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. You can’t be held accountable for what you do in your sleep.”
“Still,” she said, “it’s not very ladylike.”
“Well, if that’s all you’re worried about, you can forget it,” Hadrian informed her with a wicked smirk. “We lost all illusions of you being prissy back in Sheridan.”
How much better it was when they were silent.
“That’s a compliment,” he added hastily.
“You don’t have much luck with the ladies, do you, sir?” Wally asked, pausing briefly and letting the paddles hang out like wings, leaving a tiny trail of droplets on the smooth surface of the river. “I mean, with compliments like that, and all.”
Hadrian frowned at him, then turned back to her with a concerned expression. “I really did mean it as a compliment. I’ve never met a lady who would—well, without complaining you’ve been—” He paused in frustration, then added, “That little trick you managed back there was really great. "
― Michael J. Sullivan , Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4)
40
" The guards at the gate nodded and smiled at them.
“I hate that,” Royce muttered as they passed.
“What?”
“They didn’t even think to stop us, and they actually smiled. They know us by sight now—by sight. Alric used to have the decency to send word discreetly and receive us unannounced. Now uniformed soldiers knock on the door in daylight, waving and saying, ‘Hello, we have a job for you.’”
“He didn’t wave.”
“Give it time, he will be—waving and grinning. One day Jeremy will be buying drinks for his soldier buddies at The Rose and Thorn. They’ll all be there, the entire sentry squad, laughing, smiling, throwing their arms over our shoulders and asking us to sing ‘Calide Portmore’ with them—‘Once more, with gusto!’ And at some point one particularly sweaty ox will give me a hug and say how honored he is to be in our company.”
“Jeremy?”
“What? That’s his name.”
“You know the name of the soldier at the gate?”
Royce scowled. “You see my point? Yes, I know his name and they know ours. We might as well wear uniforms and move into Arista’s old room.”
They climbed the stone steps to the main entrance, where a soldier quickly opened a door for them and gave a slight bow. “Master Melborn, Master Blackwater.”
“Hey, Digby.” Hadrian waved as he passed. When he caught Royce scowling, he added, “Sorry.”
“It’s a good thing we’re both retired. You know, there’s a reason there are no famous living thieves "
― Michael J. Sullivan , Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4)
