“I cannot promise he won’t hurt anyone else, but I assure you he did not take after me.” Pyrrhus may share his strength, but not his arrogance. “As I said, I had no hand in his upbringing. He’s no bully.”

Achilles doesn’t flinch from Scout’s glare. His own eyes are soft and earnest, the same way he speaks to Zagreus in his moments of turmoil—how he would have liked to speak to Pyrrhus when he was Scout’s age.

“It’s not Lamb’s nature to be nice but he is kind, which is laudable. He was shown so little kindness in his thirty years—it was something he had to learn much later, and he worked hard for it.” He looks down at Stab’s scowl in the sand. “Here in Miss Ember’s service, it seems he has little cause to be kind.”