Auberon (The Expanse, #8.5)

by James S.A. Corey

Biryar Rittenaur’s

“I didn’t mean to spook you,” Lara said. “I’m not spooked,” he said. He meant to follow it up with I’m married, but what came out was different. “I’m Laconian.”

“There was a guy I knew back in Sol system used to say that money was like sex. You thought it would fix everything until you got a lot of it. Because that’s what we all reach for. Anything we need, anything we want, anything that’s grinding us down, we can get high or rich or laid and make it better. Only if that was true, people would eventually get enough drugs or money or sex and be happy.”

“You’re young yet. I’m not. There’s this thing when you get older where you have to make a choice. Everyone does. You have to decide whether you care more about being your best self or your real one. If you’re more loyal to who you ought to be or who you really are. You know what I’m talking about?”