It is not foolish, Dachensol Polchina agreed. It is new, which is not the same thing. - Sarah Monette

He could tell by the quality of her silence that she did not believe him, but if there was an advantage to being emperor, it was that she could not call him a liar to his face.

The oaths were no more than a formal deterrent to troublemaking, but they were better than no deterrent at all.

"We have thought you were too rule-abiding to be a good ruler—a paradox, you see—but perhaps we were wrong."
"But you're the Witness for the Judiciate!" Maia protested, which made everyone laugh.
"We said rule, not law," Pashavar said tartly. "There is a difference, Serenity. An emperor who breaks laws is a mad dog and a danger, but an emperor who will never break a rule is nearly as bad, for he will never be able to recognize when a law must be changed."