“Your state has been seen, and will be reported on. Only it is necessary that you do not yawn. Or, of course, speak. Discretion in all things in all things is needed." She was reminding them, and she hoped they realised it, that they were not circumcised. The circumlocution expected of a high-born Syrian princess was sometimes a trial to Sara Khatun.”

“She didn’t need hope anymore because she knew the things you wanted weren’t necessarily the things that you needed. She knew that the things that were meant to be just happened. You couldn’t control them like she once thought.”

“So, there was this beautiful princess. She was locked in a high tower(...)She was stuck up there(...)So the only thing was to jump.”

“These are the things we do sometimes, she thinks. We remind ourselves of why we're in love, so that we can stay that way. It's not a permanent state, remember that, she tells herself.”

“Semille wept not because she did something stupid; she wept because she *didn't* do something stupid. Sometimes, to do something stupid--to disobey your parents, to rush into battle, to speak out of turn, to ruin your life--is a far better thing to do than to do nothing at all.”

“It was love at first sight with Robin, but probably the Princess Bluebell had been in love with him all the time she had been at the castle, although she wouldn't say so, of course.”