The Trials of Empire (Empire of the Wolf #3)

by Richard Swan

Vonvalt shrugged. “What are a few lines on the map compared to the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands?”

“Everything I am, everything I have become, every facet of my being, is a result of my time spent with you. For years I sought nothing except to impress you and earn your praise. I have come to define myself by how I am perceived. By you.”

Boy-oh-boy, this quote resonated with me hard 0.0

“Systems,” he said, turning to the jury. He had one hand on the Neman Creed, fingers splayed, leaning on it like a prop. His other hand was held out in front of him, thumb and forefinger pinched. He looked more like a professor than a lawman. “I want to talk to you, my lords and ladies, today, about systems. We are surrounded by them. Every facet of civilisation, and what makes a civilisation, is a system. Our very society, a hierarchy of emperors, senators, lords and commonfolk, is a system. How we interact with one another is a system. Language is nothing more than a system of noises which we make, and to which we ascribe meaning.

This monologue was incredible.