Keeping a private guard this large is like using a wolf to guard the farm. It may keep off the other wolves, but sooner or later it will eat you.
I wonder if people always choose what will make them unhappy.
I love stupid plans.
Ambiades, I realized, was the kind of person who liked to put people in a hierarchy, and he wanted me to understand that I was at the bottom of his. He was supposed to treat me politely in spite of my...
The queen was settling on the edge of the bed, ungainly with hesitation and at the same time exquisite in her grace, like a heron landing in a treetop.
Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.
She was the stone-faced queen, then and ever after. She had needed the mask to rule, and she had been glad to have it. She wondered if Eugenides was glad of his.
No man can choose to serve only himself when he has something to offer his state. No one can put his own wishes above the needs of so many.
You are treasure beyond any price.
My gift is that I always know when I’ve made an ass of myself.
In the afternoon, the king and queen sat to hear the business of their kingdom. At least, the queen sat to hear the business; Costis was still not sure what the king was doing.
I want my breakfast.
I do believe that Akretenesh saw no differences between a woman who was a queen and one who was a seamstress, though he would recognize all the differences in the world between a prince and a farmer.
He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than in the word of the Thief of Eddis....
Sophos, you sleep with a knife under your pillow? I'm hurt.I'm sorry, said Sounis, afraid that he had made contact with his wild swing.I was joking. Wake up the rest of the way, would you?Gen, it's th...
Relius lay alone with his thoughts. What kind of man, he wondered, referred to himself as safely dead?
Phresine showed him where he could sleep, in an interior room with no windows, a narrow bed, and a washstand. There were chests stacked along one wall, and Costis guessed the dismal spot was probably...
Perhaps you can bring out better in them?Eugenides shook his head. I pulled the carpet out from under them very thoroughly. They will not cross me, but they won't love me, either. I am not Eddis. Peop...
In the evening, after we dance, he rarely returns to the throne; he dances with others or he moves from place to place through the room. The court thinks he is trying to be gracious, sharing his atten...
If you tease a dog, it bites.