“For now, Lady Queen," he said, "allow us to continue to obey you. But give us honorable instructions, Lady Queen," he said, turning a flushed face to hers. "Ask us to do honorable things, so that we may have the honor of obeying you.”

“He said, and his voice was strained as if he had had a mortal wound, 'Gwenhwyfar-' He so seldom spoke her formal name, it was always my lady or my queen, or when he spoke to her in play it was always Gwen. When he spoke it now, it seemed to her she had never heard a sweeter sound. 'Gwenhwyfar. Why do you weep?'Now she must lie, and lie well, because, she could not in honor tell him the truth. She said, 'Because-' and stopped, and then, in a choking voice, she said, 'because I do not know how I shall live if you go away.”

“This group is known as the watchers. And to be a watcher is a woman's fortune."He said that last bit as though it was the greatest honor girls like us could ever attain. My thoughts turned grim. It was once considered an honor to be a sacrificial lamb, too.”

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

“Desperaux," she said. He saw his name on her lips."I honor you," whispered Desperaux. "I honor you.”

“What are you doing here?"Lady Vickers asked, turning her frosty glare to Sebastian."Exactly what you think, my lady," he said.”