[He might be apt to spew shit, but there's more than feces sitting between his ears. This dismaying realization doesn't seem to sit so well with Byerly, who loses the grit in his teeth with a sigh and speaks, for perhaps the first time Richie's heard, plain and simple.]

Well in that case I should hope so, running an empire can't leave you with a ton of time to fuck around. [Richie shakes his head.] So what? You were running with the secret service? Reporting direct to the goddamn golden ruler?

[His cagey nature makes so much more sense. And, Richie thinks abruptly, though he wisely bites back the verbalization, why he wouldn't get back in touch with his sister. Family was a real liability in this line of work.]