You Got Hurt by a Pumpkin?!

"Mmm. They hated the art shows my students would make. What is this? Art by the poor for the stupid?" Bastien shook his head, wrinkling his nose and opening his mouth as if to get rid of a bad taste. "Terrible. The one blessed thing about this place is the lack of established systems like the one that allow those men to be the way they were. We must not allow them to rise." The dip into seriousness was not planned but clearly meant, Bastien clenching his fist and frowning at the wall as if it showed him some symbol of hierarchy. Of course, Bastien had seen the brand in the time since Rexanna's Ascension; he had not commented upon it when she had slipped into bed beside him nor any of the mornings after, not when there were far more important things to do like kiss her or simply marvel at where he was. But in this moment with her hair moving and the laughter of before falling into quiet...it was hard not to have his eyes linger on the spot. He would still not ask; some scars were not meant to be told unless offered. Listening, he nodded and leaned down to get a towel for her, held it in his hands as he waited for her to finish washing. "And Halyven was the site of the most harrowing times, I imagine? How do you think The Voice knew of it?" Bastien Start by admitting from cradle to tomb Isn't that long a stay Life is a cabaret, old chum It's only a cabaret, old chum