“I dropped the bug with a shudder. 'Is that why Mab wants me?' I asked Ash, who still stood a few feet away. 'As a weapon?' 'Ridiculous isn't it?' Grimalkin purred. 'She cannot even use glamour. She would be a horrible assassin.”

“Careful, human.” Grimalkin appeared on the corner of the stage, overshadowed by the dead chimera. “Do not lose your heart to a faery prince. It never ends well.”“Who asked you?” I glared at him. “And why do you always pop up when you’re not wanted? You got your payment. Why are you still following me?”“You are amusing,” purred Grimalkin.”

“Just answer me this. Is she worth it?" Ash's face went blank and cold, like a door slamming shut. "Would this be considered payment for finding sweetfinger?" he replied in a voice dead of emotion. The dwarf snorted. "Yeah, sure, whatever. But I want a serious answer, Prince."Ash was still for a moment. "Yes," he murmured, his voice so low I barely caught it. "She's worth it.""You know Mab will tear you apart for this.""I know.”

“Then she smiled and told me I was cute, and that I should be careful, and I asked her why, then she said that she might fall for me, but I know she was joking, because who would want to fall for me? I'm a mess.”

“When he was kidnapped by the Iron King and taken into the Nevernever, she didn’t hesitate to go after him. And she didn’t stop there. When her magic was sealed by Mab, leaving her defenseless in the Winter Court, she somehow managed to survive, even when she thought you had turned on her. When the Scepter of the Seasons was stolen by the Iron fey, she went after it, despite having no magic and no weapon with which to defend herself. And when the courts asked her to destroy the false king, she accepted, even though the Summer and Iron glamours within her were making her sick, and she couldn’t use either of them effectively. She still went into the Iron Kingdom toface a tyrant she didn’t know if she could overcome.“Now,” Ariella finished, turning toward me, “do you still believe humans are weak?”

“I even went to the source of all wisdom, I went and knelt at the great Queen of Drag’s feet and asked her how to find love.She backhanded me in between verses of Whitney Houston and told me if she knew, why in fuck would she be here ?”