Pacat Quotes & Sayings

After a moment, Laurent said, 'He would have liked you.'

'Even after I started courting his little brother?' said Damen carefully.

He watched Laurent stop, the way that he did when he was taken by surprise, and then lift his eyes to meet Damen's.

'Yes,' said Laurent softly, his cheeks reddened slightly. — C.S. Pacat

Even before Laurent had hit the ground,
the man had drawn his sword.
Damen was too far away. He was too far
to get between the man and Laurent, he
knew that, even as he
drew his sword--even as he wheeled his
horse, felt the powerful bunch of the
animal beneath him. There was only one
thing he could do. As the spray of water
sheared up from under his horse, he
hefted his
sword, changed his grip, and threw.
It was, emphatically, not a throwing
weapon. It was six pounds of Rabatian
steel, forged for a two-handed grip. And
he was on a moving horse, and many feet
away, and the man was moving too,
towards
Laurent.
The sword drove through the air and
took the man in the chest, ramming into
the ground and pinning him there. — C.S. Pacat

It was like watching a man smile as he surrendered himself to drown in deep water. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

Laurent stopped. Damen could see the moment when Laurent decided to continue. It was deliberate, his eyes meeting Damen's, his tone subtly changed.
'Damianos of Akielos was commanding troops at seventeen. At nineteen, he rode onto the field, cut a path through our finest men, and took my brother's life. They say
they said
he was the best fighter in Akielos. I thought, if I was going to kill someone like that, I would have to be very, very good. — C.S. Pacat

Once in his life - Laurent got only two words out before the man simply did what most people wanted to do when speaking with Laurent: he hit him. — C.S. Pacat

Damen's grip tightened in helpless reflex, his forehead bent to Laurent's neck as the heat of that admission pulsed through him. He wanted Laurent fully against him. He wanted to feel every cooperative muscle, every encouraging movement, so that every time he looked at Laurent he would remember that he had been like this. His arm slid around Laurent's chest, thigh fit against thigh. Damen's grip, still oiled, was wrapped around the hottest, most honest part of Laurent. Laurent's body responded, moving, finding its own pleasure. They were moving together. It — C.S. Pacat

And with returning awareness, he saw as if for the first time the bodies of the men that he had killed to get to the Regent's decoy, and beyond that, the evidence of what he had done. The — C.S. Pacat

He said it to Laurent. Laurent said that from this moment on, any Veretian who struck an Akielon would be executed. He trusted the honour of the Akielons, he said. Only a coward hit a man who wasn't allowed to hit back. It — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

He had the choice of the poor with no other way to survive, the choice of a child powerless to his elders, the choice of a man when his King gives him an order, which is no choice at all, and yet still more than is afforded to a slave. — C.S. Pacat

It's me,' said Damen. 'It's me, here with you. Say my name.' 'Damianos.' He — C.S. Pacat

My scorn and contempt,' said Laurent, 'are not in need of your leniency. Lord Touars, you face me in my own kingdom, you inhabit my lands, and you breathe at my pleasure. Make your own choice. — C.S. Pacat

[After the Captain of the guards went into the wagon, where Laurent dressed as Jokaste was wearing a short blue dress]
'The stories of Lady Jokaste's beauty are not exaggerated,' said the Captain, man-to-man, as they wound their way across the countryside. — C.S. Pacat

If someone kills your family you don't rest until they are dead. — C.S. Pacat

It was like watching a boar try to take on the endless blue of the sky. — C.S. Pacat

Is there anyone at this court who isn't my enemy?"
"Not if I can help it," Laurent said. — C.S. Pacat

Damen watched as alone, unattended, Laurent had left his own banquet to find him, to follow him here, up the worn steps out onto the battlements. Laurent fitted himself next to him, a comfortable, unobtrusive presence that took up room in Damen's chest. They stood on the edge of the fort they had won together. — C.S. Pacat

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 — C.S. Pacat

He's the captive Kastor sent you to train?' said Torveld, curiously. 'He's
safe?'
'He looks combative, but he's really very docile and adoring,' said Laurent, 'like a puppy.'
'A puppy,' said Torveld.
To demonstrate, Laurent picked up a confection of crushed nuts and honey and held it out to Damen as he had at the ring, between thumb and forefinger.
'Sweetmeat?' said Laurent.
In the stretched-out moment that followed, Damen thought explicitly about killing him. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

The kiss happened because they couldn't help it, and it was so sweet and so right that Damen felt a kind of ache. He pulled back. The realities of the outside world seemed to press at him. "I"-he couldn't say it.
"No. Listen to me." He felt Laurent's hand firm on the back of his neck. "I'm not going to let my uncle hurt you." Laurent's blue gaze was calm and steady, as if he had mad a decision and wanted Damen to know it. "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. — C.S. Pacat

There was a man I was supposed to meet. He's got all these ideas about honour and fair play, and he tries to keep me from doing the wrong thing. But he's not here right now. Unfortunately for you. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

The two walked off together, leaving Damen with Aimeric.
'He hates you,' said Aimeric, cheerfully. — C.S. Pacat

Do you think they're doing it?' said Alexon. Charls coughed on his wine. 'I beg your pardon?' 'The King and Prince Laurent. Do you think they're doing it?' 'Well, it's not for me to say.' Charls avoided looked at the Prince. 'I think they are,' volunteered Guilliame. 'Charls met the Prince of Vere once. He said he was so beautiful that if he were a pet he'd spark a bidding war the likes of which no one had ever seen.' 'I meant, in an honourable way,' Charls said, quickly. 'And everyone in Akielos speaks of the virility of Damianos,' continued Guilliame. 'I don't think it should follow that - ' Charls began. 'My cousin told me,' said Alexon, proudly, 'he met a man who had once been a famous gladiator from Isthima. He lasted only minutes in the arena with Damianos. But afterwards Damianos had him in his chambers for six hours.' 'You see? How could a man like that resist a beauty like the Prince?' Guilliame sat back triumphantly. 'Seven hours,' said Lamen, frowning slightly. 'Here — C.S. Pacat

Because a king maker would always choose the weaker man. The weaker the man, the easier he is to control.' Damen — C.S. Pacat

Something to say?' said Laurent
Jord was holding off from them. The same stubborn distaste was in his voice. 'Not with him here.'
'He's your Captain,' said Laurent.
'He knows well enough he should go.'
'While we compare notes on spreading for the enemy?' said Laurent. — C.S. Pacat

I thought killing was easy for you," said Laurent. His voice was rather quiet. "I thought you did it without thinking."
"I'm a soldier," said Damen, "and I have been for a long time. I've killed on the sawdust. I've killed in battle. Is that what you mean by easy?"
"You know it isn't," said Laurent, in that same quiet voice. — C.S. Pacat

Damen's palm slid over Laurent's warm nape; slowly, very slowly, making his height an offering, not a threat, Damen leaned in and kissed Laurent on the mouth. The kiss was barely a suggestion of itself, with no yielding of the rigidity in Laurent, but the first kiss became a second, after a fraction of parting in which Damen felt the flicker of Laurent's shallow breathing against his own lips. It — C.S. Pacat

That isn't why. She would have chosen him even if you'd had royal blood in your veins, even if you'd had the same blood as Kastor. You don't understand the way a mind like that thinks. I do. If I were Jokaste and a king maker, I'd have chosen Kastor over you too.'
'I suppose you are going to enjoy telling me why,' said Damen. He felt his hands curl into fists, heard the bitterness in his throat.
'Because a king maker would always choose the weaker man. The weaker the man, the easier he is to control. — C.S. Pacat

(Dorothy) Dunnett is the master of the invisible, particularly in her later books. Where is this tension coming from? Why is this scene so agonizing? Why is this scene so emotional? Tension and emotion pervade the books, sometimes almost unbearably, yet when you look at the writing, at the actual words, there's nothing to show that the scene is emotional at all. I think it is because Dunnett layers her novels, meaning that each event is informed by what has come before (and what came before that, and what came before that) but Dunnett doesn't signpost in the text that this is happening, leaving it to the reader to bring the relevant information to the table — C.S. Pacat

The physician said, 'I was told you would be difficult. Very well. The better it heals, the less your back will trouble you with stiffness, both now and later in life, so that you will be better able to swing a sword around, killing a great many people. I was told you would be responsive to that argument. — C.S. Pacat

Damen knew that he had to lie. It was beyond dangerous to talk about this with Laurent. — C.S. Pacat

Dear Charls. Whatever will you do with your own Kemptian silk? It will spoil on the road.' 'We aren't carrying any Kemptian silk,' said the Prince. It took a moment for those words to be understood, and then Makon's expression changed. 'Oh, did you think we were? I'm afraid you undercut yourself for no reason.' A look of fury had appeared on Makon's face. The Prince said, 'A little healthy competition.' Dinner — C.S. Pacat

A brother's love? You don't know him at all, do you. What's a death but easy, quick. It's supposed to haunt you forever that the one time he beat you was the one time that mattered. — C.S. Pacat

My lady did not trust the Regent of Vere to protect her interests. In the case that there was no other way to save her life, the wet nurse could be instructed to bring the child to you - in exchange for Jokaste's freedom.' Damen sat back in his chair, and lifted his brows slightly at Jokaste. Jokaste's — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

You weren't making love to a slave, you were making love to me.' And he couldn't think that through clearly but he could catch a glimmer of it, a glimmer of the edge of it. 'I thought you wouldn't, I thought you'd never - ' He took a step forward. — C.S. Pacat

You mean Heiron,' said Lamen. 'Yes, that's right,' said Charls. 'I can't meet Heiron,' said Lamen. 'It's understandable to be nervous around great men like the Kyros, Lamen. But the Prince wouldn't have you as an assistant if he didn't believe in your abilities.' Lamen passed his hand over his face and had a look of distraught amusement. 'Charls - ' 'Don't worry, Lamen. Here it is not as it is with smaller houses. The Kyros is a great but remote figure. Most likely our dealings will be with the Keeper.' Lamen — C.S. Pacat

Lamen though of modest origins was a thoughtful young man who spoke Veretian very well, even if his knowledge of cloth was lacking. 'I — C.S. Pacat

Stay back, old man. It isn't your business. This is the Prince of Vere.'
'But
I only paid three coppers for him,' said Volo, sounding confused. — C.S. Pacat

Don't, said Laurent, toy with me. I - have not the means to defend against this. — C.S. Pacat

Now, Laurent was beside him. Aloof, untouchable Laurent was beside him, kneeling on the wet marble hundreds of miles from home, with nothing in his eyes but Damen. — C.S. Pacat

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

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. — C.S. Pacat

Damen tore off a piece of the bread, and then he looked at the men by the fire, and then he looked at Damen, a long, cool look that would have been difficult to hold if Damen had not had, by now, a great deal of practice.
And then he said, 'All right. — C.S. Pacat

That's right. He is Charls. I am Charls. We are cousins,' said Charls, gamely, 'named after our grandfather. Charls. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

Can you stand? We need to move out. It's not safe for you here. Too many people want to kill you.'
After a moment, Laurent said, 'Everyone to the south, but only half the people to the north. — C.S. Pacat

A ludicrous boyish hope flared that someone would come to help him, and, carefully, he extinguished it. — C.S. Pacat

I don't know how this interrogation found its way into my bed. May I ask where I can expect it to travel next? — C.S. Pacat

You're still wearing it."
He couldn't help but say it. Laurent's wrist was heavy with gold, like the colour of his hair in the firelight.
"So are you."
"Tell me why."
"You know why," said Laurent. — C.S. Pacat

He knew that expression. His sense of danger, highly attuned to Laurent's moods, told him that Aimeric was better off downstairs with a half dozen men than he was up here with Laurent. Laurent's lids were smooth over a cool gaze, his posture straight-backed, his fingers poised on the rim of the goblet. I — C.S. Pacat

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

The advice of his father came back to
him, never to take your eyes off a
wounded boar: that once you
engaged an animal in the hunt, you must
fight it to the finish, and that when a boar
was wounded, that was when it the most
dangerous animal of all.
That thought nagged at him. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

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

It took me until I was nine to realise he was letting me win. I just thought I had a very fast pony. — C.S. Pacat

You cut his head off. It makes it a little difficult for him to suck your cock. — C.S. Pacat

Damen bridged the nine chilly inches at the first opportunity. 'What are you doing? You were the one who warned me about Nicaise.' He spoke in a low voice.
Laurent went very still; then he deliberately shifted in his seat and leaned in, bringing his lips right to Damen's ear. 'I think I'm out of stabbing range, he's got short arms. Or perhaps he'll try to throw a sugar plum? That is difficult. If I duck he'll hit Torveld.'
Damen gritted his teeth. 'You know what I meant. He heard you. He's going to act. Can't you do something about it?'
'I'm occupied.'
'Then let me do something.'
'Bleed on him?' said Laurent. — C.S. Pacat

Talik said, 'His contract with Lord Berenger ends soon. Ancel will seek a new contract, a high bidder. He wants money, status. He is foolish. Lord Berenger may offer less money, but he is kind, and never puts pets in the ring. Ancel has made many enemies. In the ring, someone will scratch his green eyes out, an "accident."'
Damen was drawn in against his will. 'That's why he's chasing royal attention? He wants the Prince to
' He tried out the unfamiliar vocabulary. '
offer for his contract?'
'The Prince?' said Talik, scornfully. 'Everyone knows the Prince does not keep pets.'
'None at all?' said Damen.
She said, 'You.' She looked him up and down. 'Perhaps the Prince has a taste for men, not these painted Veretian boys who squeal if you pinch them.' Her tone suggested that she approved of this on general principle. — C.S. Pacat

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 — C.S. Pacat

If you are concerned that my memory for wrongs against me is longer than ten months,' said Laurent, 'there's no need for anxiety. I am sure you can persuade me you were genuinely mistaken. — C.S. Pacat

You fight them, his father had said.
You don't trust them. His father had been right. And his father had been ready. Rabatians were cowards and deceivers, they should have scattered when their duplicitous attack met the full force of the Akielon army. But for some reason they hadn't fallen at the first sign of a real fight, they had stood firm, and shown metal, and, for hour upon hour, they had fought, until the Akielon lines had begun to slip and falter.
And their general wasn't the king, it was the twenty-five year old prince, holding the field.
Father, I can take him, he'd said.
Then go, his father had said, and bring
us back victory. — C.S. Pacat

He would also have the additional duties of attendant. In that capacity, he would report directly to the Prince. The duties described to him seemed to be a mixture of man-at-arms, adjutant and bed slave - ensuring the Prince's safety, attending to his personal comfort, sleeping in his tent - Damen's whole attention swung back to Radel. "Sleeping in his tent?" "Where else?" He passed a hand over his face. Laurent had agreed to this? The — C.S. Pacat

You really do have ice in your veins,
don't you, said Damen. — C.S. Pacat

We should - ' 'And we will.' Laurent turned to him, sliding fingers into his hair. 'But first, we have the morning.' * — C.S. Pacat

He became aware of a man drawn
alongside them, frozen in stillness even
in the midst of battle, and
knew that what had just happened had
been seen, and overheard.
He turned, the truth on his face. Stripped
bare, he could not hide himself in that
moment. Laurent, he thought, and lifted
his gaze to meet the eyes of the man who
had witnessed the last words of Lord
Touars.
It wasn't Laurent. It was Jord.
He was staring at Damen in horror, his
sword lax in his hand. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

Pallas's mouth opened. Damen saw what Pallas saw: Laurent like some dream of a newly fucked virgin, himself unmistakably above him, fully roused. He flushed all over. In Ios, he might have dallied with a lover while a household slave attended to some task in the room, but only because a slave was so far beneath him in status as not to signify. The idea of a soldier watching him make love to Laurent was breaking open his mind. Laurent had never even taken an acknowledged lover before, let alone - Pallas — C.S. Pacat

Why? Do you want to spar? We can
keep it friendly," Damen said.
"No," said Laurent. — C.S. Pacat

I tried that too,' said Laurent. 'I don't like to think of myself as predictable. But apparently I cycle through all the normal responses. Shall I tell you what you're going to do when I stick the knife in for the first time? — C.S. Pacat

Friends,' said Laurent, 'Is that what we are?'
[ ... ]
Damen said, with helpless honesty, 'Laurent, I am your slave. — C.S. Pacat

Laurent said, 'I have recently learned that sometimes it is better to simply smash a hold in the wall. — C.S. Pacat

That's right, I'm still captured,' said Damen.
'Your eyes say, "For now,"' Laurent said. 'Your eyes have always said, "For now. — C.S. Pacat

No, I don't care. Tomorrow you leave. But you're mine now. You're still my slave tonight. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

Auguste had fought with honour. He had
been the one honourable man on a
treacherous field. — C.S. Pacat

They are surely gods who speak to him
With steady voices
A glance from him drives men to their
knees
His sigh brings cities to ruin
I wonder if he dreams of surrender
On a bed of white flowers
Or is that the mistaken hope
Of every would-be conqueror?
The world was not made for beauty like
his. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

He'd been kissing Laurent and that should not be interrupted. His eyes returned warmly, possessively to their object: Laurent looked like any young
man who has been pressed against a battlement and kissed. The slight disturbance of the hair at Laurent's nape was wonderful. — C.S. Pacat

To keep. I wouldn't wear it.' said Laurent, 'though I don't believe your imagination is having any difficulty with the idea. — C.S. Pacat

Laurent said, 'I didn't think anyone was good enough to get past your guard.' 'One person,' said Damen. — C.S. Pacat

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 — C.S. Pacat

Perhaps we can take a turn in the garden. The slave can avail himself of the garden seat and rest his injuries'
'How thoughtful of you, Councillor,' said Laurent. He turned to Damen and said in a melting voice, 'Your back must hurt terribly.'
'It's fine,' said Damen.
'Kneel on the ground then,' Laurent said. — C.S. Pacat

Not everyone could have the blissful equanimity of Lamen, who seemed to pay the Prince no deference of rank, a piece of very good acting. Charls — C.S. Pacat

They agreed on a rendezvous, and Laurent took off with the restrained urgency of a man who has to find some way to hide sixteen hands of bay gelding behind a shrub. — C.S. Pacat

All bad things were done in the dark. — C.S. Pacat

It was with a shock that he felt the touch of Laurent's fingers against the back of his wrist. [ ... ] Laurent was shifting the fabric of his sleeve, sliding it back slightly to reveal the gold underneath, until the wrist cuff he had asked the blacksmith to leave on was exposed between them.
'Sentiment?' said Laurent.
'Something like that.'
Their eyes met and he could feel each beat of his heart. A few seconds of silence, a space that lengthened, until Laurent spoke.
'You should give me the other. — C.S. Pacat

Laurent could inspire homicidal tendencies simply by breathing. — C.S. Pacat

Action exploded to his left, movement busting from the trees. The attack came from the north, charging from the slope and the tree line. Ahead of it was a solitary rider, a scout, racing flat out over the grass. The Regent's men were on them, and Laurent wasn't within a hundred miles of the battle. Laurent had never planned to come.
That was what the scout was screaming, right before an arrow took him in the back. — C.S. Pacat

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. — C.S. Pacat

He killed, his sword shearing, shield and horse a ram, pushing in, and further in, opening a space by force alone for the momentum of the men behind him. Beside him a man fell to a spear in the throat. To his left, an equine scream as Rochert's horse went down.
In front of him, methodically, men fell, and fell, and fell.
He split his attention. He swept a sword cut aside with his shield, killed a helmed soldier, and all the while flung out his mind, waiting for the moment when Touar's lines split open. The most difficult part of commanding from the front was this
staying alive in the moment, while tracking in his mind, critically, the whole fight. Yet it was exhilarating, like fighting with two bodies, at two scales. — C.S. Pacat

It was like being pleased y a thorn bush, feeling fond of every prickle. Another second and he was going to say something ridiculous like that. — C.S. Pacat

He's private about it. You saw his
personal training ring, inside the palace.
He'll go a few rounds with some of the
guard occasionally, with Rochert, with
me
laid me out a few times. He's not as
good as his brother was, but you only
have to be half as good as Auguste to be
ten times better than everyone else. — C.S. Pacat

We could try some other arrangement."
"You're right: it should be me in front
and you carrying the horse. — C.S. Pacat