"You have to lean to read between the lines, Coll." This time Brigham rose. "Charles is still holding out hope of support from the French, though he's beginning to realize King Louis would rather talk than act." Frowning, he twitched back the curtain and looked at his dormant gardens. They would explode with color and scent in the spring. But it was unlikely he would be there to see them in the spring. (19)

...Coll hadn't mentioned that his sister was a she-wolf with a face to rival Helen's, but Brigham was content to make his own judgments there. It might be true that she had no cause to love the English, but for himself, Brigham preferred to weigh a man as a man, not by his nationality.(39)

She would have enjoyed killing him, Serena thought. With a sword. No, a sword was much too clean, much too civilized...