Marcus only replies to that, first, with his next step forward swerving him so that his shoulder bumps gently into Julius', a kind of silent reference to the old joke, the one about a very attractive rifter witch and her powers of persuasion. He would like to think of himself as somewhat convincing, too, late as he was.

"That fight I had with Kostos," he says, a slight pivot, but not a complete break from the topic, the thing he is feeling after. He hadn't wished to say much about it at the time. His partners had kindly not pressed him. Now, he says, "He said to me I sounded as though I wanted war."

(Well, it was more vulgarly stated than that, which was the main reason Marcus struck out at him, but these are details—)

"Desired it," to be precise.