The Prisoner of Limnos (Penric and Desdemona, #6)

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Adelis is not the sort of man who inspires poisoning. He’s the sort of man who inspires hitting on the head with a skillet.”

She wished her imagination came with a lever to shut it off, like an irrigation gate. This nightmare garden needed no watering.

Ikos shrugged. “Way I figure, once a drop is enough to kill you, any more you add makes no difference.”

He wasn’t poleaxed, just Penric’d.

And that was just how it worked, wasn’t it? Happiness handed around and around, never stopping. It wasn’t something one could hoard tight like a miser. That would be like trying to hold one’s breath for later.