“But all I feel is impatience, fury for the opposition I anticipate and the lies I'm going to have to tell to make it happen, and frustration that I can't even take a walk without them sending someone to hover. Attack me," she said."I beg your pardon, Lady Queen?""You should attack me, and we'll see what he does. He's probably quite bored--it'll be a relief to him.""Mightn't he run me through with his sword?""Oh." Bitterblue chuckled. "Yes, I suppose he might. That would be a shame.""I'm gratified that you think so," said Giddon dryly.”

“That was a perfectly reasonable explanation," she said grumpily. "Perhaps my advisers don't lie to me.""Isn't that what you'd want?" asked Giddon."Well, yes, but it doesn't elucidate my puzzle!""If I may say so, Lady Queen," said Giddon, "it's not always easy to follow your conversation.""Oh, Giddon," she said, sighing. "If it's any comfort, I don't follow it either.”

“Madlen: 'It's a relief to me, Lady Queen, that in your own pain, you take no interest in hurting yourself.'Bitterblue: 'Why would I? Why should I? It's foolish. I would like to kick the people who do it.'Madlen: 'That would, perhaps, be redundant, Lady Queen.”

“I want to have the heart and mind of a queen,” she whispered. “I want it more than anything. But I’m only pretending. I can’t find the feeling of it inside me.”Fire considered her quietly. You want me to look for it inside you.“I just want to know,” Bitterblue said. “If it’s there, it would be a great comfort for me to know.”Fire said, I can tell you already that it’s there.“Really?” Bitterblue whispered.Queen Bitterblue, Fire said, shall I share with you the feeling of your own strength?”

“I wish people would stop hitting Po," whispered Bitterblue."Well," Giddon said. "Yes. I'm hoping Skye is following my model. Punch Po; go on a long trip; feel better; come back and make up.”

“Lady Queen," he said, "You've given me all I want. You're the queen a librarian dreams of.”

“It's not reasonable to love people who are only going to die," she said.Nash thought about that for a moment, stroking Small's neck with great deliberation, as if the fate of the Dells depended on that smooth, careful movement."I have two responses to that," he said finally. "First, everyone's going to die. Second, love is stupid. It has nothing to do with reason. You love whomever you love. Against all reasons I loved my father." He looked at her keenly. "Did you love yours?""Yes," she whispered.He stroked Small's nose. "I love you," he said, "even knowing you'll never have me. And I love my brother, more than I ever realized before you came along. You can't help whom you love, Lady. Nor can you know what it's liable to cause you to do."She made a connection then. Surprised she sat back from him and studied his face, soft with shadows and light. She saw a part of him she hadn't seen before."You came to me for lessons to guard your mind," she said, "and you stopped asking me to marry you, both at the same time. You did those things out of love for your brother.""Well" he said, looking a bit sheepishly at the floor. "I also took a few swings at him, but that's neither here nor there.""You're good at love," she said simply, because it seemed to her that it was true. "I'm not so good at love. I'm like a barbed creature. I push everyone I love away."He shrugged. "I don't mind you pushing me away if it means you love me, little sister.”