The Element of Fire, page 130 by Martha Wells
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My mother has lovers. God knows my father had worse habits--"
"Don't. If your honor means nothing to you, it means something to me."
And how is Roland's honor affected by an insult to Denzil, Thomas wondered. Where was Dr. Dubell to ask the pertinent question?
"Sometimes I think you're the only one."
Denzil did not dispute this. "I'm sorry I upset you. That bitch of a sorceress--"
"Is my sister."
At his side Thomas sensed Kade stiffen.
"And where was she when you needed her?"
"She ran away. I loved her and she left me behind without a second thought."
Kade shivered once, a slight movement with all the intensity of a restrained convulsion. Thomas found himself unwillingly sympathetic. Roland had been the Crown Prince; his exiled sister could hardly have taken him with her, as if they were farm children escaping a harsh master. And the choice to stay with him in the city had been taken from her by Ravenna's command.
Kade drew back as if to leave. Impulsively, Thomas put a hand on top of hers on the railing and she froze. At that moment an army probably couldn't have kept her on that balcony by force, but that gentle touch seemed enough to hold her there.
"Who stayed with you?" Denzil asked.
"You did. I'd have died without someone."
"Then it's a good thing she wasn't all you had." There was silence, then a creak as one of the men below opened the door.
Thomas released Kade's hand, and she vanished back through the archway.
Chapter Eight
KADE FOUND HERSELF in need of company. Falaise was the only person she could think of who might possibly be willing to put up with her, and Kade was in such a mood that she was willing to put up with moping, which was probably what Falaise was doing at the moment.
The Queen's apartments were on the fifth level of the King's Bastion, but when Kade came up the stairs to where she could see the