"I don't," Kahl growls, hotly. "Don't sit up, you're resting," he adds, flickering a foot closer, ungently pushing Zerxus back down against Tempus's flank with a hand on his shoulder.

"I would kill everyone here and pull us all thrashing down into the dark together before I yielded to him, and he's a coward who'll sit in this box being catspaw to a low thief who won't even pretend to release him rather than face death. I just didn't do it today."