[Zelos stiffens. Other visitors. Right. In his defence, the library is usually only accessible by special permission, so it's a fairly good bet it'll be empty at any given time, but there's no way for Zelos to be sure. He should have checked.]

Yeah. [Still glowering at the table. An hour ago, he'd been scared, but the fear has long since crystalised into deep offence.] And someone tried to kill me.

[Again.

Zelos is used to nonviolent ambushes. They happen all the time. But assassination attempts are another thing, and before Zelos's mother died the previous winter, the fact of their existence was kept from him. In the year since her death, there have been three, and this most recent one was blatant enough to be the result of shoddy planning. It would never have worked, but Zelos hadn't known that during the instant of its execution, and he couldn't tell if he was more offended over that or over the attempt itself.

Whichever it is, he still hates being the Chosen.]

Why do they keep trying? It's not working. Everyone just gets killed or arrested.