The Crown Tower (The Riyria Chronicles, #1)

by Michael J. Sullivan

“Absolutely. A man accustomed to killing has the look of a wolf—empty of soul and hungry for blood.”

Establishing superiority early on, nailing fear and hopelessness into the other side, made any conflict easier.

“There’s doing what’s right, and there’s doing what’s safe. Most of the time you do what’s safe because doing different will get you dead for no good reason, but there are times when doing what’s safe will kill you too. Only it’ll be a different kind of death. The dying will be slow, the sort that eats from the inside until breathing becomes a curse. Understand?”