[Nicaise was so young, too young to be near the viper's pit of Laurent's uncle's court, but so is Laurent even still, not even twenty one. Damen holds him a little tighter, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. It's still so hard to understand how a man could use children as his pawns, his playthings. He doesn't want to understand, doesn't want to think about any of it.

The Regent is dead. It helps, to picture his head tumbling from his shoulders in the middle of the court.] You'll have nightmares if you follow that train of thought. [He murmurs softly, rubbing Laurent's upper arm as comfort.] You avenged him, in the end. I think he would be pleased about that, at the very least.