"Certainly the latter," is wry, the kind of conclusion that is much easier to come to later than it is in the moment. Marcus' tone is a little dismissive; he can handle Kostos, at least on the level of handling someone he still considers an ally, and not an enemy.

However. One hand he has hooked into his elbow splays his fingers, relaxes. "But it wasn't from nowhere. In that I likely insulted him, some, but we were speaking of rallying. I was," an amendment. "And in the event of a war, he thinks we couldn't win."