KoA questions

[lopezuna-writes.livejournal.com]

(1) Eugenides twice leads his attendants to the dead end with the shortcut on the beam. First time he has to retrace his steps. Second time, he takes the shortcut. Why does he go this way the first time? In his distracted haste to deal with Artodorus the tax-evader, has he forgetten that while this is a shortcut for the Thief of Eddis, it is not a shortcut for the king of Attolia? Second time, it makes more sense that he did it on purpose, at least to me, because he is already revealed as wandering around the palace as he chooses.

(2) Why does Attolia refuse to speak to Eugenides at breakfast after it is revealed that Artodorus is leaving the court? Is she upset at what are clearly his underhand methods for achieving results? Or is it only Costis' perspective that makes it look like she is irritated? It's not clear that Costis is in fact present, because this is one section of the book that is in third person.

(3) I know this has been discussed before, but I didn't see the following point raised. Attolia summons Costis and asks him what the king is doing when he shuts out his other attendants right after Costis has told the king that he did not spread the story about the cousins and the water cache. Coincidence? If it weren't for the timing, I would have said there was no collaboration between Attolia and Eugenides on the plan for Costis. But the timing does make it look like they are working together to see how trustworthy Costis is. And this makes me rethink the part at the very beginning of the book where in a seemingly off-the-cuff remark, she suggests Eugenides take Costis as a sparring partner.

(4) The Fall of the House of Erondites: Am I missing something, or was this rather a seat-of-the-pants affair, in the sense that it was triggered by Sejanus directing the assassins? Clearly there was some setup in that Eugenides made friends with Dite, and was keeping an eye on Erondites and Sejanus. But getting Sejanus to confess to the quinalums, and trapping him with his love for his brother (through Dite's visit to the king)... if he hadn't both revealed himself as double-crossing his father and had a guilty conscience over the assassins, how would that have worked out?

One neat thing I noticed on last reread. Teleus agrees to reduce the guard by half before learning how Eugenides disarmed the assassins. But it is not until he learns this - and agrees that Laecdomon lost the match fair and square - that he addresses him as "My King" rather than "Your Majesty."