Megan Whalen Turner

“If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my mind up for me.”

“There are a lot of things a person with two hands couldn't steal," Eddis said."So?""If it's impossible to steal them with two hands, it's no more impossible to steal them with one. Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time.”

“From shadow queen to puppet queen in one rule," he whispered. "That's very impressive. When he rules your country and he tells you he loves you, I hope you believe him."He anticipated her blow and leaned back. Her hand only brushed his cheek in an entirely unsatisfying manner. "At least that's one lie I didn't tell you.”

“That is ridiculous," she said.The king agreed. "Like falling in love with a landslide. Only you could fail to notice.”

“She pulled the bedclothes up as far as they would go and suppressed a perverse wish to have her old nurse come to chase away the darkness, perverse because she didn't know if she wanted the shadows to be empty or not.”

“I was listening," the king said, aggrieved. "I closed my eyes to listen better.""What did you hear?""I'm not sure," he said." That's why I was listening so closely. I may have to ask the baron to repeat some parts of his report on his grain tax.""I am sure you can arrange an appointment.""I am sure I can too.”

“Why did you come if not to murder my king?""I came to steal his magus.""You can't," said the magus in question."I can steal anything," Eugenides corrected him, "even with one hand.”

“...her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth...”

“Who knows but that you will get up to find that the world has inverted itself yet again?”

“He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than in the word of the Thief of Eddis. He was famous in three countries for his lies.”

“Then come out," said the king, helping him, "knowing you'll never die of a fall unless the god himself drops you.”

“Are you badly hurt?""Hideously," said the king, without sounding injured at all. "I am disemboweled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you.”

“Your Majesty, please get down. My friend Aris is really a very good man, and if you fall off that wall he's going to hang for it, and so will his squad, most of whom are also nice men, and though I can't say I really care if your attendants hang, there are probably many people that do care, and would you please, please get down?"The king looked at him, eyes narrowed. "I don't think I've ever heard you say that many words in a row. You sounded almost articulate.”

“How do you know that, Philo, dear?"But Philologos had had enough of being condescended to. "Because, Lamion, I am not as dumb as you think I am, even if you are."By the time Lamion had parsed this to make sure that there was in fact an insult at the end of it, Hilarion had laid a restraining hand on his arm.”

“Relius looked away. "He said that you...cried," he said softly."But not that he cried as well," said the queen, amused at the memory. "We were very lachrymose... would you like to hear more romance of the evening? He told me the Guard should be reduced by half, and I threw an ink jar at his head.""Is that when he cried?""He ducked," said Attolia dryly."I had not pictured you for a fishwife.""Lo, the transforming power of love.”

“You'll have to pardon me," the magus said. "But with your country at war I can't see how any of it really matters."Standing up, Eugenides pulled the papers from the magus's hands. "It matters, because I can't do anything, anymore, for this country, and it matters," he yelled as he threw the papers back to his desk, "because I only have one hand and it isn't even the right one!" Turning, he picked an inkpot off the desk and threw it to shatter on the door of his wardrobe, spraying black ink across the pale wood and onto the wall. Black drops like rain stained the sheets of his bed....Eddis sighed. "Will you sit down and stop shouting?" she asked."I'll stop shouting. I won't sit down. I might need to throw more inkpots.”

“This is the stupidest plan I have ever in my career participated in," Xenophon said."I love stupid plans," said Eugenides.”

“No 'Glory shall be your reward' for me. Oh, no, for me, it is, 'Stop whining' and 'Go to bed'.”

“He looked at her and tilted his head very slightly in wonder. He had forgotten, as he always forgot, how beautiful she was. Her hair was held away from her face by the ruby and gold headband that crossed her dark brows. Her skin was flawless and so fair as to be translucent. She dressed as always in an imitation of Hephestia, but it was far easier to imagine the impersonal cruelty of the Great Goddess than to see cruelty in the face in the Queen of Attolia. Looking at her, Eugenides smiled. Attolia saw his smile, without any hint of self-effacement or flattery or opportunism, a smile wholly unlike that of any member of her court, and she hit him across the face with her hand. His head rocked on his shoulders. He made no sound but sank to his knees...”

“She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower.""And?" Eddis prompted."Well," said Eugenides, "it's a challenge.”

“Sophos turned red, and I wondered about the circulation of his blood; maybe his body kept an extra supply of it in his head, ready for blushing.”

“And the Earth had no name. The gods know themselves and have no need of names. It is man who names all things, even gods.”

“I have a whole guard room full of brawny veterans who'd enjoy a chance to drag two Eddisians out of here, particularly if you kicked a lot and they could kick you back.”

“I knew I would be in the story somewhere," Eugenides interjected."Oh no," said Phresine, "This was a humble servant.""Ouch.""Though very courageous.""Not me," whispered Eugenides to his pillow.”

“Tell me a story then...keep me occupied.""A story?...What makes you think I can tell a story?""Insight," said the king, "Go on.”

“I am very good at groveling.”

“I didn't really care much about anything, so I guess I felt fine.”

“Dying would have been so much easier.”

“You learn something new everyday.""What are you learning?" Sophos asked."To keep my mouth shut, I hope.”

“That prison," I said with heartfelt sincerity, "Was absolutely the most awful thing that has happened to me in my entire life." I could tell by the way he looked at me that he thought my life had been filled with one awful thing after another.”

“Staring at the wall opposite him he presented the queen with a view of his ear and awaited her orders.”

“What he brought out was a wooden gag they put in someone's mouth before doing something drastic, like cutting off a leg.”

“The Magus must had eyes like a thief because he told Pol to stop and dismount to walk alongside me, one hand resting just above my knee ready to shake me if I fell asleep. He shook hard and resorted to pinching periodically.”

“All of my own impulses to balance and move seemed to conflict with those of the guards, and I was jerked and jostled down the portico, just as graceful as a sick cat.”

“[I had a]...Second bowl of oatmeal. It was a little bit gloppy.”

“I hate horses. I know people who think that they are noble, graceful animals, but regardless of what a horse looks like from a distance, never forget that it's as likely to step on your foot as look at you.”

“The younger one looked to be completely useless.”

“As soon as the guards where gone, I lay down on my stone bench and dumped the king and his threats out of my head without ceremony. They were too unpleasant to worry over anyway.”

“His forehead was covered by wrinkles brought on by a lot of sun and too much frowning.”

“I was captivated. My own hair was easily as long as Olga's, but it frizzed and knotted at every opportunity. When it was combed, it didn't float in perfect fans down to my shoulders.”

“Finally I went and found my hat and skewered it on my head with a four-inch hat pin. I wore the hat because I knew my mother never visited without one. The pin I thought would be a comfort in case of emergency.”

“...That he'd seen...two people, a young man and a woman, sitting on invisible furniture with their feet up, reading books and eating chocolates.”

“I woke with a terrible headache and wobbled around 'till I fell out the window.""You what?""Fell out the window. That one over there." She [Edwina] gestured to the curtain behind her. "I broke my back. My spine is all wobbly now, but it doesn't hurt.”

“All I wanted to do was lie in the dry grass with my feet in a ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker, I thought. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana.”

“... I wanted Ambiades to understand that I considered myself a hierarchy of one.”