Brand said. “Do you remember the first time I protected you?” I felt my forehead crease. He said, “That motherfucking stableboy, what’s his name? Gregor. He liked to bully you when you were a kid, real clever-like, so that he couldn’t be called to task for it. He tried to make you feel small because he felt small. . . . Remember that time we rode on the beach, and Gregor made some shitty comment about you needing to ride a pony instead of a horse? That look on your face killed me—you’d been so, so proud that you’d finally just learned to ride a horse like a grown-up, and Gregor knew that, and
...more
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.