Fools and Assassins
Did no one ever teach you this, Fitz?
Was there no time, in your lessons of intrigue and following the orders of fools in sending greater fools to do their bidding, to learn of love as a way by which people justify how they use each other? For love can be stronger than any Chyurdan leaf, and far more subtle than the direst of all threats, or the most seductive of all bribes.
For surely you know, it is not always the army at the gates that brings a kingdom to its knees, but the assassin who steals in and ends the life of your king. And, much like this – though the mind is the rightful lord of any man, the heart can sometimes depose him.
Did you not see, Fitz?
In all you learnt of weapons wrought to end lives - even as you yourself are a living weapon - did you not suspect that within yourself there slept one waiting to be awoken?
For the heart is a weapon, too.
Was it not in your mentor to teach you the greatest lesson of all? It has served me well for all these years, but I never expected it to work so well on you.
I know what I am.
And you should have known, too.
But you should never have let a Fool kiss you.
And I should never have let that kiss fool you.
OH. And Darren Shan Book 12: Sons of Destiny is out.