““You don’t speak of the royalty with respect,” said Pedulla. “That’s unusual.” “Is it?” “Very. What did the royal family do to make you speak of them so?” “Nothing.” Besides pulling us this way and that, the bastards. “I was being inappropriate. I’m like that sometimes.” “Not an admirable trait in a Shield,” he chided me. Oh, go to hell. What did he know? Had he ever had to deal directly with royalty?””
