[All nerves. He snorts quietly at that. Oh, please. It's not even a good joke, it's so patently false. But the marquis smiles anyway. He knows it for what it is. A stalling tactic.]
[And as it turns out, Dean isn't that far off. He's alarmingly close. That's the trouble. Other people might not expect it from the hunter. Even the marquis didn't at first. But he does now, at least most of the time. Dean's a wildcard, but he's also very, very clever when he needs to be.]
[De Carabas tips his head to one side, then nods again, once.]
That's reasonably accurate. You pass, at least.
[But he doesn't win.]
[The marquis pauses, then glances to the side and back.]
It's not a matter of your belief.
[Nor even of Below's belief. It's a matter, in the end, of his own.]
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[And as it turns out, Dean isn't that far off. He's alarmingly close. That's the trouble. Other people might not expect it from the hunter. Even the marquis didn't at first. But he does now, at least most of the time. Dean's a wildcard, but he's also very, very clever when he needs to be.]
[De Carabas tips his head to one side, then nods again, once.]
That's reasonably accurate. You pass, at least.
[But he doesn't win.]
[The marquis pauses, then glances to the side and back.]
It's not a matter of your belief.
[Nor even of Below's belief. It's a matter, in the end, of his own.]