He waved at his attendants. "I dragged them like a ball and chain all the way across the palace and back." "If sterner measures are called for, we can find a larger ball and chain." The queen turned and disappeared into the partment. "Oh, dear," Eugenides muttered as he followed...The queen's sterner measures, dispensed by the Eddisian Ambassador, arrived before dawn.
Megan Whalen TurnerThe 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.
Megan Whalen TurnerNo," he said. "Relius was right and I was wrong. You are My Queen. Even though you cut my head from my shoulders, with my last breath as a noose tightens, to the last beat of my heart if I hang from the walls of the palace, you are My Queen. That I have failed you does not change my love for you or my loyalty.
Megan Whalen TurnerToday, she had yielded the sovereignty of her country to Eugenides, who had given up everything he had ever hoped for, to be her King.
Megan Whalen TurnerYou're awake," he said. "Phresine is not," pointed out the queen. "Oh?" "You gave her lethium." "She gave it to me first.
Megan Whalen TurnerAre 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.
Megan Whalen TurnerShe reached out and touched the kingโs face, cupping his cheek in her hand. โJust a nightmare,โ he said, his voice still rough. The queenโs voice was cool. โHow embarrassing,โ she said, looking at his maimed arm. The king looked up then, and followed her gaze. If it was embarrassing to wake like a child screaming from a nightmare, how much more embarrassing to be the reason your husband woke screaming. A quick smile visited the kingโs face. โOuch,โ he said, referring to more than the pain in his side. โOuch,โ he said again as the queen gathered him into her arms.
Megan Whalen Turner