Kaustubh Dudhane’s Reviews > Son of a Liche > Status Update

There was a point of equilibrium in any organization’s middle management, a fulcrum of responsibility that remained still while the upper and lower ranks of the bureaucracy moved around it. Tyren knew from experience that a shrewd official could find this pivot-point within the org chart and, once entrenched, enjoy near-complete autonomy with almost no responsibility.

The wetness was new. His brow knotted as he concentrated on the sensation. It wasn’t like the persistent dampness around his shredded, broken limbs, or the warmth of the blood leaking from the slash across his chest. Instead, it was a moist, rhythmic slathering, gently pulsing up his cheek toward his —
Gorm sputtered and choked as a dog tongue slid into his open mouth.

The key to managing failure was to make it sound like success.

In layman’s terms, the more people looked forward to something, the more likely that tragic circumstances will prevent it. This principle was famously reinforced when Nove’s experiments designed to demonstrate it failed on stage at the Academy of Essenpi, simultaneously proving and failing to prove the philosopher’s point.

Other jobs put you on notice or gave you a performance improvement plan, but professional killers got the loose ends speech. Either way, you knew you were on the path to an early termination.