and some by virtue fall; Gallows

[Gallows]

Oh, this boy. Such a flatterer. "You always know just what I want, darling." I grin with unconcealed humor at the thought of the Chamber catching flames. Oh, not for the sake of destruction, but for the interesting amusements it might cause. It may not seem like it, but Kushiel gets a lot of his lack of motivation from me. I have never been motivated by position or power or fame. It wasn't until I lived in the Valley that I even had a reason to do anything other than exactly what I felt like in the moment. Hedonistic, some would say. Idiotic would be another word. I prefer selective enjoyment. And bless his heart, Kush takes lack of ambition to a new level. Children always do outpace their parents, don't they? "Oh fine. I won't tell you what she's thinking, but that won't stop me from looking." Nothing can stop me from that. After all, even if Kushiel claims he would like to stay uninformed, I would like to know if I need to start looking for a place to bury a body. And I can't help but think that he might be a little curious, no matter what he says. He wouldn't want to rob me of the chance to be the overbearing mother in law, now would he? His next question puts a scowl on my face. "No." I grumble, genuinely annoyed. "Some colt got to it first." Demian isn't a child, not really. I just consider anyone younger than me to be, well, childish. It's a flaw but one I'm willing to live with. And he's not an idiot, I'll hand that to him. He can't lie, at least not to me, and from what I've read he genuinely cares about this place. So I suppose he can have my grudging non-disrespect. Not that I'll tell Demian that. He needs to be kept on his toes. This isn't the Deserts. Coups and dethronings are not usually kind affairs. "If I take over you won't have to wonder, or have birds inform you, little man." I grin wickedly. "You'll know." Questionable morality is my middle name. No matter what anyone prescribes to, you will never make me believe it's not all relative. The thing that separates me from the Queen of a formerly goody two shoes kingdom is that they have self imposed morality, and me? I don't make excuses for doing and getting what I want. My loyalties are earned, not easily handed out simply because someone lives near me. If you ask me, and rarely does anyone do so (their loss), morality can be a buzz kill. "For those of us who can't read minds," I wink, "his name is Demian and he's proposing change and vitality. Which ought to be a given, and is something everyone promises. We'll see if he measures up." I pause. A tale for a tale, dearest. "Tell me about Straia." I could always sift through his thoughts, but I'd rather hear it from his lips. Change of pace, you know. G A L L O W S We must all hang together or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately.