“for years I’d held together a shadowy band of ex-mercenaries, street kids, and refugees through discipline and a bit of a black magic, on the fringes of a city that ate up innocence and weakness”
“It’s happened again. Someone’s pulled the rug out from under you. An empire at your feet, and you’ve lost it all. Be honest, did you really deserve any of it? More important, what would you do to get it back?”