“He didn't want to talk to Pol. Pol would want him to go somewhere on the back of a horse.”

“Why didn't you tell me to take Attolia's advice from the beginning?""I thought you should figure it out. What you learn for yourself, you will know forever," said Eugenides."Pol used to say that," said Sounis, surprised."I learned it from him. I just wish to my god that I had his patience for the process.”

“The Magus must had eyes like a thief because he told Pol to stop and dismount to walk alongside me, one hand resting just above my knee ready to shake me if I fell asleep. He shook hard and resorted to pinching periodically.”

“He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.”

“She pulled the bedclothes up as far as they would go and suppressed a perverse wish to have her old nurse come to chase away the darkness, perverse because she didn't know if she wanted the shadows to be empty or not.”

“He reached for a tabletop and ran his hands over it, clutching the edge until his knuckles turned white.He wanted to know that it was solid. Eddis knew that all the world would seem to him insubstantial, as if it might tear away and reveal something else infinitely larger and more terrifying.”

“From shadow queen to puppet queen in one rule," he whispered. "That's very impressive. When he rules your country and he tells you he loves you, I hope you believe him."He anticipated her blow and leaned back. Her hand only brushed his cheek in an entirely unsatisfying manner. "At least that's one lie I didn't tell you.”