Fool's Errand (Tawny Man, #1)

by Robin Hobb

He was not just one old man come to visit me. He brought all of my past trailing along behind him as an embroidered train follows a woman into a hall. When I let him into my door, I had let in my old world with him.

Silence can ask all the questions, where the tongue is prone to ask only the wrong one.

Hap’s voice pattered on, his words falling around me like a soft rain. I would miss the boy.

“When you cut pieces from the truth to avoid sounding like a fool, you end up sounding like a moron instead.”

I recognized his shocked look. This was a young man who had killed, but never before been in imminent danger of being killed. I felt oddly qualified to introduce him to the sensation. No doubt I had once worn that same expression.

Well, too late to call the words back. I’d probably have to kill him anyway. I recognized that thought as Chade’s and set it aside.

The pity mixed with his horror stung me. He saw. He saw, despite all the years, the beaten boy that still huddled within me, and always would. Somewhere I forever cowered, somewhere I was endlessly unmanned by what had been done to me. It was intolerable that anyone should know that. Even my Fool. Perhaps especially him.