"I know how sensitive you are, and still I talked about conquering people as if that was just a valid option, as in 'Would you like mead or ale?' or something like that," Ragnar says, getting up to flop down on the edge of the bed, but not touching Athelstan uninvited. "And that after I realised just how much you've come to abhor the cruelty of our world. And that after I..."

Pause.