“This twilight, Lothaire was holding court.He sat upon his gilded throne, decoratedwith gold-dipped skulls. His design. If he’d had a queen, her throne would have been similar. Of course, her skulls would be daintier.”

“he sat upon his throne, which is made of skulls...”

“Their sneak-out was over. But by then it was too late. In his mind, Katherine I was already becoming Katherine XIX. She would soon retake the throne that, all along, had rightfully been hers.”

“What if he could see this, his own skull, yellow and eroded? Two centuries old. Would he still speak? Would he speak, if he could see it, the grinning, aged skull? What would there be for him to say, to tell the people? What message could he bring?What action would not be futile, when a man could look upon his own aged, yellowed skull?”

“Put your puppet on the throne." said Talathain. "You may make her Queen but she won’t be Queen for long.”

“Yorda slid down the side of the throne platform and walked again toward Ico. She moved differently now. This was not the Yorda he had led through the castle by the hand, the Yorda who would wander aimlessly if he did not call out to her. This was the queen's double, her puppet.”