Megan Whalen Turner: King

“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.”

“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.”

“He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.”

“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?”

“That is ridiculous," she said.
The king agreed. "Like falling in love with a landslide. Only you could fail to notice.”

“… her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth…”

“Then come out," said the king, helping him, "knowing you'll never die of a fall unless the god himself drops you.”

“Tell me a story then… keep me occupied."
"A story?… What makes you think I can tell a story?"
"Insight," said the king, "Go on.”

“Anyone who can steal the king's seal ring can manage the locks on his record room.”

“I thought that being king meant I didn't have to kill people myself. I see know that was another misconception.”

“That one,"-he nodded toward the closed door-" will rule more than just Attolia before he is done. He is an Annux, a king of kings.”

“The queen!" someone shouted in alarm, and the King erupted like a wild animal caught in a snare.”

“The prison keeper choose an inopportune time to look around the doorway into the cell. He and the king locked gazes, and the king's eyes narrowed while the prison keeper's widened.”

“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.”

“Today, she had yielded the sovereignty of her country to Eugenides, who had given up everything he had ever hoped for, to be her King.”

“As soon as the guards where gone, I lay down on my stone bench and dumped the king and his threats out of my head without ceremony. They were too unpleasant to worry over anyway.”