“Darius was dead, and very soon she and I would meet as equals. But i had the feeling it wouldn't be a day she ended up celebrating”

“If I had to do it over again, I would not have chosen this life. Then again, I'm not sure I ever had a choice.”

“No, my lady. If I cannot look at you as an equal, i will not look at you at all”

“You wouldn't want to be king of my country," I said. "Why is that?""Well, you're rather fat. I doubt you'd fit onto my throne.”

“Let's begin with an easy agreement. Before his death, your father and I were negotiating for a small area of land on our borders, near Libeth. The Carthyan land has a spring that my farmers need for their crops. Carthya has other spings nearby, so you won't miss it.""My father wouldn't have missed it, but I would," I said, with no actual idea of what spring he meant. "It happens to be my favourite water source in all of Carthya, and I won't part with it.”

“You should thank me for tolerating you. I had hoped that becoming a royal would cure your foul manners.""That's interesting. My father hoped that stripping me of royalty would do the same thing.”

“As they began to tie me, I wanted to yell out, to release some of my fear that way, but I held it in. Imogen wouldn't be that far from here yet, and I didn't want her to know what was about to happen.If it was possible to scream on the inside, though, I was, and the sound of it was deafening.”