Megan Whalen Turner

“Kings don’t move mountains as a favor to a friend,”

— Megan Whalen Turner

Being six feet off the ground does give one a sense of superiority.

— Megan Whalen Turner

Your Majesty, you just-" Costis stopped. "Just what?" the king prompted wickedly. Nothing would induce Costis to say out loud that the…

— Megan Whalen Turner

I woke with a terrible headache and wobbled around 'till I fell out the window." "You what?" "Fell out the window. That…

— Megan Whalen Turner

“He looked at her and tilted his head very slightly in wonder. He had forgotten, as he always forgot, how beautiful she…

— Megan Whalen Turner

Calf love doesn't usually survive amputation, Your Majesty.

— Megan Whalen Turner

“Useless the Elder was looking at me in amusement. “Not exactly stalwart, are you?” he said.”

— Megan Whalen Turner

“The magus said thoughtfully, "That lying little monster complained about everything: the food, the horses, the blankets, the company. He even found…

— Megan Whalen Turner

The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss…

— Megan Whalen Turner

What he brought out was a wooden gag they put in someone's mouth before doing something drastic, like cutting off a leg.

— Megan Whalen Turner

One cannot toss ambassadors back like bad fish," said Eugenides. "You treat them with care, or you'll find you've committed an act…

— Megan Whalen Turner

“It might have been preferable," Eddis admitted, dryly, "if you had thrown off your chains of bondage solely for love of me.…

— Megan Whalen Turner

Sophos turned red, and I wondered about the circulation of his blood; maybe his body kept an extra supply of it in…

— Megan Whalen Turner

Oh, that," said the king with a shrug. "That isn't your honor, Costis. That's the public perception of your honor. It has…

— Megan Whalen Turner

What a strange world it is, where prisoners are left their weapons and the written word is a mortal danger.

— Megan Whalen Turner

She thought of the hardness and the coldness she had cultivated over those years and wondered if they were the mask she…

— Megan Whalen Turner

He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little…

— Megan Whalen Turner

I am very good at groveling.

— Megan Whalen Turner

“lay there on my pallet, hoping it would improve soon and wondering, in a distant, unreproachful sort of way, if I was…

— Megan Whalen Turner

She was the stone-faced queen, then and ever after. She had needed the mask to rule, and she had been glad to…

— Megan Whalen Turner

He lies to himself. If Eugenides talked in his sleep, he'd lie then, too.

— Megan Whalen Turner

I sometimes believe his lies are the truth, but I have never mistaken his truth for a lie.

— Megan Whalen Turner

The queen had passed him, so close he'd felt the stir of air, and he guessed that if she had turned her…

— Megan Whalen Turner

I wonder if people always choose what will make them unhappy.

— Megan Whalen Turner

“Speaking of the king to the queen--He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.”

— Megan Whalen Turner