He wouldn't go so far as to say that human lives were worth very little to them, but truthfully - you did not rise far in the Spades without some bodies left behind you. More than the average, perhaps, for the Novaks. Hadyn likely remembered Dwayne Novak's violent tendencies as much as Jordan did, and while Laureline and the rest of the Bernards liked to cover their matching proclivities with an elegant veneer, the fact of the matter was that the best assassins in the Spades had been trained by their mother. None were surprised that nearly a half-dozen Spades had fallen to Jordan in his rise to Ten; no one was surprised that when the last Jack of Spades survived his challenge and his failed counter, his life ended shortly thereafter. Likewise it had been expected that Hadyn's own rise would be given to that same violence.

"Ava knows perfectly well that I wouldn't look nearly as good in an embroidered tunic as she would." And Ava knew that he wasn't the type to swim against stream like she did in the Diamonds. One day, he thought, she'd exhaust herself trying to fight against the Diamonds' prevailing nature. But that was her problem. "I have a late meeting with Katya and Julien, but I'll come by after." God knew he'd probably need a drink after an hour of Julien monosyllabic smirking replies.