"I never once saw them do anything dark or cruel. I felt nothing amiss. No unkindness, no darkness. If I had ..." He's not sure what he would've done and if it's worth speculating about now. "If I had, I would've asked them about it and probably ended up hollowed out and puppeted."

"They way I see it, there's one of two answers. The best case scenario is that I'm an idiot. That I was stupid and didn't see what was there, that they'd gotten inside before I could tell and kept me under for months and I was too weak, too eager to notice." He doesn't back down or look away, but there's a slight wince as he rubs at his shoulder. "I hope that's what it was. That's the most reasonable answer. The alternative is that I spent so long sharing bits of body and soul with another that I can't taste that sort of magic when it's used around me."

"A single instance, yes, I can pick that out. But a constant hum in the background? I don't know."