“The queen!” someone shouted in alarm, and the king erupted like a wild animal caught in a snare.

He tried to sit up, and the men around him held him down. He struggled. Someone sensible used both hands to pin the hook, with its knife-edge, to the bed. Someone less sensible tried to consolidate his grip on the king’s other arm and staggered back, holding his face.

“My stitches, my stitches!” the physician yelled.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

“Damn your stitches!” he snarled. “Let me up.”

With one hand free the king was forcing himself to a sitting position, but more people were pushing him back down, all of them shouting. Someone fell back from the end of the bed, kicked solidly. The doctor cried out again, all his work going to waste.

Costis saw no good to be had by involving himself in the melee. He watched as Ornon stepped forward, seized a man efficiently by the hair, and pulled him sharply backward. The man sat down hard, and Ornon stepped into the space he had left by the king’s bed.

Bonus:

He splayed his hand across the king’s face and slammed his head back hard against the pillow. Keeping his hand planted on the king’s face, he leaned over and roared into his ear, “The queen is fine!”

In regards to women on TikTok making up astrological reasons for why Lindsay Clancy didn't actually kill her children. (The quotes are paraphrased from a NtB article.)

And of course, the response to the criticism to this is, "It's just a joke!"

Okay, but you don't joke about revoking the rights for men to vote when people like Andrew Tate and his brother are caught and arrested. You don't joke about taking away the rights of men to vote when there's a group of them spouting insanity. You're only joking about repealing the 19th amendment when women do this.

This isn't a defense for the women. I don't agree with astrology, and I definitely don't agree with trying to get someone off the hook for murder based on star signs. The idea is insane, and it's insane that others are jumping on board with it.

I mean, you had leaders like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Mussolini, Castro, and Kim Jung Un who have people killed under their leadership, and they're all men, but it's only when women make bad decisions that it's a problem.

You have places under Islamic regime that are all led by men, and the women are severely impacted, but that doesn't count here. Only women are incapable of making decisions that impact everyone.

All of our American presidents have been male, and we can mark the multitude of dumb decisions that impacted the world and the US, but their decisions don't weigh in here.

No, we will only point out the decisions of women that are dumb and use it as evidence as to why they shouldn't vote. We will point to the things women have voted for without consideration to any other factor and claim it's because women can't be trusted.

But Leo? He was the annoying guest she couldn’t get rid of. She’d never fall for him, because she was totally out of his league. Not that he cared. She wasn’t his type anyway.

Lysander

"on the wrong side of 40" "huh, which side is that?"