Wrath (The Faithful and the Fallen, #4)

by John Gwynne

But the truth is simpler, a voice seemed to whisper inside his mind. Deep down, he knew. It was more basic when all was stripped away: Calidus’ persuasive arguments and philosophical debates on good and evil, right and wrong, the abstract meanings that were attached to names. Politics, power struggles, who deserved what. The honest answer was much simpler than any of those meandering debates, and one that had been clearly reinforced by his brief struggle with the Jehar warrior before him. I don’t want to lose.

“To my thinking, though, it’s what happens before death that’s important. All of us die. How many really live?”