Countess Keron snapped her fingers imperiously. Immediately guards in flowing scale armour with black and white capes surrounded her. "This one," she said, pointing at Chen. "Has spoken out of turn. Have her strung up by her heels above the market square until she learns respect." Another snap and two of them have moved to take Chen by the arms.

"This one," she said, looking at Rose. Her voice was the kindness of authority, so certain it overrode all doubt, "is weak. Fragile. Useless. Look at her, she doesn't even know she is meant to apply [i]makeup[/i], the pathetic creature. Take her away and teach her how to be [i]presentable[/i] for goodness sake. The next time I see her I want her to look [i]soft[/i]."

"And you?" said Countess Keron, bending down to look at Yue. "And you, little knight? You need [i]strength[/i], and the only way to gain that is by taking it away from someone else."

Despite the harshness of those words and the coldness of her eyes, Countess Keron is not [i]cruel[/i] when she says that. She dealt with Chen and Rose like they were nothing and oh, that made her [i]mighty[/i], but there is no contempt in her voice for either of them. Having power, rendering another weak kneed and short of breath and trembling against the ropes, is not the same thing as being [i]mean[/i].

"And so you will fight in the arena," she said, drawing herself up again. "And there you will stay until you can overcome me in a clash of blades. Challenge me whenever you like, but be assured you will need the strength of [i]many[/i] victories to stand against me."