"He said 'no.'"

Drinian looks out over the water, then back at her. "No, he didn't feel himself sufficient. He was just a kid. After the Usurper, murdering his way to a throne he didn't deserve but to which he felt entitled, to hear the rightful king say he wasn't certain he was enough for it was a strange thing. A good one, too. And it never did go to his head, the way it might have with some others."