The gold was a gift; you said so yourself.You are a woman, Nahuseresh said very gently. You do not understand the world of kings and emperors, you do not understand the nature of their gifts.Nahuseres...
The clear light of the library was slanting in through the glass-paneled doorway to my right, falling on the table between my tutor and me and on dust motes hung in the air. The tiny flecks drew my ey...
The Attolians liked to point out with a snicker that there was no sign anywhere of the king's hand at work.
Just asleep, Eddis reassured her.At the sound of her voice Eugenides's head turned slightly, but he didn't wake. Attolia, seeing the movement, breathed again and pressed her hand to her chest where it...
If I couldn't be Eddis, I would be Attolia. If they needed to see my uncle in me, then I would show him to them. And I would take Attolia's advice because if I identified my enemy and destroyed him, S...
I sometimes believe his lies are the truth, but I have never mistaken his truth for a lie.
He watched Attolia out of the corner of his eye. She was still cool, like a breath of winter in the warm evening air, but in the last few days he had begun to sense a subtle humor in her chilly words....
He should have said something, why hadn't he? Costis wondered. In fact, the king had. He had complained at every step all the way across the palace, and they'd ignored it. If he'd been stoic and denie...
Finally I went and found my hat and skewered it on my head with a four-inch hat pin. I wore the hat because I knew my mother never visited without one. The pin I thought would be a comfort in case of...
Do not offend one power to attain the favor of another.
Attolians did not invest much belief in their religion. They dutifully attended temple festivals and used their gods for cursing and little else.
At one point I muttered, You learn something new every day. What are you learning? Sophos asked. To keep my mouth shut, I hope.
Are you badly hurt?Hideously, said the king, without sounding injured at all. I am disemboweled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you.
[Eugenides] looked from Eddis to the window, where the visible sky was already dark. He looked back, his gaze a little sharper, and said, You forgot me.Eddis shoved her hands into the pockets of her t...
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 Sou...
When we opened the doors, we saw that the entire room was scorched black and you were on the floor possibly dead, surrounded by broken glass. Window glass is expensive, you realize that?Yes, Your Maje...
What he brought out was a wooden gag they put in someone's mouth before doing something drastic, like cutting off a leg.
Welcome, said the magus. Would you like some dried beef, some dried beef, or some dried beef for lunch? Oh, I’ll take stuffed pigeons in sauce, thank you, and some decent wine to drink. None of that c...
The gossip will carry to Attolian spies, who will report to Relius, Attolia's master of spies, and he will carry the news to her.Her secretary of the archives, murmured the magus.Hmm? asked the queen....
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 t...