[prompt] that which cannot be taken back
♫ "You will cease-"
"I will not."
♫ "When we leave, burn it. Try not to attempt any creativity, Adus, it only embarrasses me."
As they moved on, flames rose at his back and he spared no thought for the manor's new occupants, spurring his horse on and away from Arissa's questions. This time he would leave nothing behind.
♫ "Why don't you have him strangled, and then you and Arissa can try again? If you both concentrate, you might even be able to produce a real human being instead of an eel." Martel had never bothered to make a secret of the contempt in which he held his associates; that he found himself associating with them at all was injury enough without adding the insult of offering anything resembling respect. Or basic courtesy. Or simple human decency.
♫ The following morning, he thought of it as the moment at which he could have stopped and didn't - the moral highground is yours; I surrender - but only briefly as Ewar's polite suggestion that he mightn't go after her openly armed registered and he unbuckled his swordbelt with poor grace.
♫ Scrutinizing the portrait before him, Martel was aware of the woman at his side - the anxious woman, fingers still stained with paint as she waited for the verdict of the man whose opinion meant the most to her. Her talent was, in his admittedly biased opinion, positively unmatched. The likeness was exceptional; the subtle colours were made vibrant with the play between light and shadow.
"It's only a pity we'll have to keep it shut up," he said, trying to recall how he'd let himself be persuaded to pose that way in the first place - adding with insouciant artlessness, "and a very good thing I've already spoken with your father about marrying you. My god, Petra."
Later, when she'd quieted and stopped hitting him, she laughed and scolded him for ensuring she could never speak of his (truly awful, you horrible creature) proposal in polite company without blushing. What a thing to be so fond of, and what a dreadful man she was set to marry.
("My elegant artist with her hidden depths of depravity-"
"I will be all the better your match for it - Martel!")
Dialogue in the third piece is taken directly from The Sapphire Rose.