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4d1e9b4
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Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.
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influence
psychology
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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a8aa3ad
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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."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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6c32c16
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No 'Glory shall be your reward' for me. Oh, no, for me, it is, 'Stop whining' and 'Go to bed'.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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1a9c203
|
The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead in the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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38b7af6
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I'll be your minister--" "Of the exchequer? You'd rob me blind." "I would never steal from you," he'd said hotly. "Oh? Where is my tourmaline necklace? Where are my missing earrings?" "That necklace was hideous. It was the only way to keep you from wearing it." "My earrings?" "What earrings?"
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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18e8c43
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I am not sure I trust you." "You can trust me with your life, My King." "But not with my wine, obviously. Give it back."
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humor
wine
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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e68ead2
|
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. He was famous in three countries for his lies.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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08e3c79
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All I wanted to do was lie in the dry grass with my feet in a ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker, I thought. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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d737f02
|
If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my mind up for me.
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inspirational
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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a1bc6d3
|
This is the stupidest plan I have ever in my career participated in," Xenophon said. "I love stupid plans," said Eugenides."
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gen
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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d1d57f9
|
Who am I, that you should love me?" "You are My Queen," said Eugenides. She sat perfectly still, looking at him without moving as his words dropped like water into dry earth. "Do you believe me?" he asked. "Yes," she answered. "Do you love me?" "Yes." "I love you." And she believed him."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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f2c732c
|
He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.
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marriage
love
eugenides
royalty
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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78eeb0b
|
Relius looked away. "He said that you...cried," he said softly. "But not that he cried as well," said the queen, amused at the memory. "We were very lachrymose... would you like to hear more romance of the evening? He told me the Guard should be reduced by half, and I threw an ink jar at his head." "Is that when he cried?" "He ducked," said Attolia dryly. "I had not pictured you for a fishwife." "Lo, the transforming power of love."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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3c7c82b
|
Why did you come if not to murder my king?" "I came to steal his magus." "You can't," said the magus in question. "I can steal anything," Eugenides corrected him, "even with one hand."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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24d8c1e
|
He lies to himself. If Eugenides talked in his sleep, he'd lie then, too.
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lying
tricksters
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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ce5b3b8
|
Will there be poppy juice in it?" Phresine shook her head. "Good. My wife and I agreed that only my wine was to be poisoned."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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a93a082
|
You're awake," he said. "Phresine is not," pointed out the queen. "Oh?" "You gave her lethium." "She gave it to me first."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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4fdc9b8
|
One of us might be assassinated and then my heir will be king. Don't give up hope just because chances are slim." "For the assassination or the heir, your majesty?"
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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9ac5225
|
You learn something new everyday." "What are you learning?" Sophos asked. "To keep my mouth shut, I hope."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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7b817d1
|
Sounis had been thinking of Ambiades. "He would have been a better man under different circumstances." Gen looked at him. "True enough," he said. "But does a good man let his circumstances determine his character?" --
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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c54396c
|
Oh, that," said the king with a shrug. "That isn't your honor, Costis. That's the public perception of your honor. It has nothing to do with anything important, except perhaps for manipulating fools who mistake honor for its bright, shiny trappings. You can always change the perceptions of fools."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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5ef520b
|
I didn't think about being king," he said, his voice hoarse. Eddis stared. "Your capacity to land yourself in a mess because you didn't think first, Eugenides, will never cease to amaze me. What do you mean you didn't think about being king? Is Attolia going to marry you and move into my library?"
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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141b4db
|
Your Majesty, please get down. My friend Aris is really a very good man, and if you fall off that wall he's going to hang for it, and so will his squad, most of whom are also nice men, and though I can't say I really care if your attendants hang, there are probably many people that do care, and would you please, please get down?" The king looked at him, eyes narrowed. "I don't think I've ever heard you say that many words in a row. You soun..
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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1be6056
|
Calf love doesn't usually survive amputation, Your Majesty.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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45592ca
|
That is ridiculous," she said. The king agreed. "Like falling in love with a landslide. Only you could fail to notice."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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623747d
|
It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.
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trust
teleus
the-king-of-attolia
loyalty
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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15a7f56
|
All my life they had made choices for me, and I had resented it. Now the choice was mine, and once it was made, I would have no right to blame anyone else for the consequences. Loss of that privilege, to blame others, unexpectedly stung.
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responsibility
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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92b32b1
|
I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT!
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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588872b
|
But there are other words for privacy and independence. They are isolation and loneliness.
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loneliness
privacy
isolation
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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343a8a1
|
If we truly trust no one, we cannot survive.
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trust
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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71dc28c
|
You didn't know I could do that, did you?" he asked, conversationally. "I did not, Your Majesty," Teleus gasped. "My grandfather killed a man that way once, using the edge of the wooden sword." "I hadn't realized the Thieves of Eddis were so warlike." "They aren't, mostly. But like all men, Teleus, I have two grandfathers." Teleus rolled his eyes to look up at him, and the king said, "One of mine was Eddis." "Ah," said Teleus. "Ah, indeed,"..
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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c80253f
|
She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower." "And?" Eddis prompted. "Well," said Eugenides, "it's a challenge."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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1531db1
|
I knew I would be in the story somewhere," Eugenides interjected. "Oh no," said Phresine, "This was a humble servant." "Ouch." "Though very courageous." "Not me," whispered Eugenides to his pillow."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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8633371
|
her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth...
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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73d641a
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Safety is an illusion, Costis. A Thief might fall at any time, and eventually the day must come when the god will let him. Whether I am on a rafter three stories up or on a staircase three steps up, I am in my god's hands. He will keep me safe, or he will not, here or on the stairs.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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92c8a0d
|
A thief never makes a noise by accident.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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49a6141
|
Sophos turned red, and I wondered about the circulation of his blood; maybe his body kept an extra supply of it in his head, ready for blushing.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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a10dcaa
|
If you are feeling more yourself, there is a problem best addressed immediately," said the queen. "In my nightshirt?" The king wriggled, as ever, out of straightforward obedience. "Your attendants. I have spoken to them. You will speak to them as well." "Ah. They have seen me in my nightshirt." He looked down at his sleeve, embroidered with white flowers. "Not in your nightshirt, though."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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311313d
|
There are a lot of things a person with two hands couldn't steal," Eddis said. "So?" "If it's impossible to steal them with two hands, it's no more impossible to steal them with one. Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time." --
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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071d2d9
|
Eschewing ceremony, Eugenides said, "You the ambassador?" "You gave me the gun," protested Sounis. "I didn't mean for you to shoot the ambassador with it!" Eugenides told him. "Oh, how our carefully laid plans go astray," murmured the magus. "You shut up!" said Gen, laughing."
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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1f16b5d
|
I sometimes believe his lies are the truth, but I have never mistaken his truth for a lie.
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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5569b7f
|
You'll have to pardon me," the magus said. "But with your country at war I can't see how any of it really matters." Standing up, Eugenides pulled the papers from the magus's hands. "It matters, because I can't do anything, anymore, for this country, and it matters," he yelled as he threw the papers back to his desk, "because I only have one hand and it isn't even the right one!" Turning, he picked an inkpot off the desk and threw it to shat..
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Megan Whalen Turner |
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80409b1
|
He limped slowly over to his own wooden sword and stooped awkwardly to pick it up. Trailing it on the ground behind him, he limped toward the queen, and the courtyard quieted as he approached and was silent again as he dropped to his knees before her and laid the sword across her lap. "My Queen," he said. "My King," she said back. Only those closest saw him nod his rueful acceptance. He lifted his hand to brush her cheek softly. As the enti..
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megan whalen turner |
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4debde6
|
Your Majesty, you just-" Costis stopped. "Just what?" the king prompted wickedly. Nothing would induce Costis to say out loud that the king had almost fallen from the palace wall and that Costis had seen him manifestly saved by the God of Thieves. The king smiled. "Cat got your tongue?" "Your Majesty, you are drunk," Costis pleaded. "I am. What's your excuse?"
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Megan Whalen Turner |