Quinlan held the old king's stare across the frozen basement, Iris still gathered against his side, and neither man had moved since the words 'my duty as king' left Alexios's mouth.
The frost held with them. It sat over the casks and the stone in a pale crust, the two lantern flames stayed drowned at their blue points, and beneath it all the sealed pillar kept its silence, forgotten by the very audience it had tried courting.
"You know," Quinlan said at last, "we've spent most of a year trying to kill each other. And in all that time, I felt respect toward you."
Quinlan's voice stayed level and conversational, which, against the pressure in the room, only made it heavier. "You hunted me with badly lacking information, yet you, proud king of humanity, still played every board to win."
Alexios's eyes narrowed.
