“Knowing the Princess was forced to swallow her pride, and it was probably so big it could choke a horse, Tag decided to honor his vow to assist her.”

“Her Highness swallowed her pride, threw on her big girl bustle, and stepped bravely into the world of single chickdom.”

“If sacrificing herself for her husband's sake were to prove the last thing that Jassi ever did willingly for her new master . . . well, then, so be it, however bitter the taste to Carcharos. Pride had always been his substitute for honor, but his pride was so long gone from him that he could barely recall the feel of it. And so be that, too.”

“I tried to swallow his nonsense without choking.”

“If virtue cannot shine bright, but by the conflict of contrary appetites, shall we then say that she cannot subsist without the assistance of vice, and that it is from her that she derives her reputation and honor?”

“She had taken her vows and then they had taken her, and the forces amassed against her were greater than love, greater than obligation. They were elemental, heavy as a dead planet.”