Assassin's Apprentice

To Giles

and

to the memories of

Ralph the Orange

and

Freddie Cougar

Princes among Assassins

and

Felines above Reproach

Men cannot grieve as dogs do. But we grieve for many years.

Nosy was dead. I believe he gave his life freely, recalling that we had been good to one another when we were puppies.

Ruthlessness creates its own rules.

Odd, how so many things end as they begin.

“But what does the devouring of one man matter, if it saves a kingdom.” Verity did not bother to disguise the bitterness in his voice, and to me it was plain that it was not the Skill alone that he spoke of. He pushed his plate away. “After all,” he added with ponderous sarcasm, “it is not as if you do not have yet another son to step in and wear your crown. One unscarred by what the Skill does to men. One free to wed where he will, or will not.”

Because I could feel people. And that sense was the one that always alerted me first, that let me know to use my eyes and ears and nose as well, to see what they were about.

But there it is; sometimes luck belongs to children and madmen. That night I felt we were both.

how tactless of him to draw further attention to himself by actually dying.

I hadn’t got more than a dozen steps away when I heard her shriek “Keppet!” yet again.