Lion Head Mesa ingemuo

"yes, i suppose they might have sent brawny, hideous spies to use some sort of poison inside the palace itself," ramesses snapped, slumping against his throne-back. "it is more likely that someone inside the palace has done this thing, though i can think of no motive for any of my subjects. not one that would lead to murder."
belatedly he nursed a private anger that arsenio would be head of his own pack. it meant he would have to charm a fish-reeking mercenary as an equal. was there no end to the egregious slights to him and his own?
"you are an outpost of soldiers and did not move upon our mutual enemy. had i known you would become an ineffective pack of domestically bound husbands i would never have suggested your foundation in the sunspire."