[ Good. That was the question he'd hoped Nash would ask - even if he's now damnably nervous about answering it. It's one thing to risk himself and his mission if Nash is rather more malicious than his sweet eyes and carefree manner would suggest. It's another thing entirely to risk his sister. Nadine is the one real handle on him. Threaten his Emperor, fine; Emperors have died for duty before. Threaten his life, and he won't blink. But his sister, whom he would lead by the hand to school, who would sleep in his bed with him for warmth during the winter months until that vicious rumor made that impossible, who he took a hundred blows for - a threat to her would make him crumple entirely.

But if he dies, then who will fight for her? ]

Sane. [ With a lift of his lip as he immediately walks back what he said - ] Not all Vorrutyers are mad. [ He tilts his chin up. ] I always wondered if she wasn't actually a Vorrutyer, if Maman had strayed, except we might have been twins. Anyway. Nadine. Sharp sense of humor, smart as anything. Far smarter than me. People assume she's sweet, but she simply lies in wait. Righteous, too. How many people, dear Nash, actually managed to retain a sense of right and wrong past their teen years? Not many, I'd think.