"You and His Majesty have your share of compelling and uncompelling arguments." She knew the brothers didn't care to be compared, but it impossible not to at times. She was firmly attached to both.

"But me? Right now. I haven't got an agenda. Not beyond just trying to get you to level with me." A pause. She was sober, and her brain itself was aching for a drink. She wouldn't indulge it--yet. She needed it to find the right words. "You don't want to be trapped. ...I don't want you dead. I don't have the answers of how to make those meet."