Melissa J. Cave > Quotes

“In the eyes of the Divinity, Remin was less than a commoner, less than a bastard. He was the son of traitors, born to a noble House whose name was now treason to speak, and he had refused to take any other.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“Very dense writing.” “It is, that’s why it might take me a while,” she said apologetically. “I have to stop reading to think about it sometimes, to make sure I understand.” “That’s how it should be. Important ideas should take some thinking.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“He wanted the Tower to fawn over her. He didn't like the idea of presenting her to Segoile as the Exile Princess, an object of pity and curiosity. He wanted all of them to know how extraordinary she was.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Last of His Blood

“What will you give me if I do it?” Remin interrupted. The Emperor smiled. “What do you desire? Name it, and if it lies in our Empire and under the sight of the stars, we will grant it to you.” Remin could wish for the moon, and the Emperor knew he would never have to grant it. Duke Ereguil was right. The Brede was a devourer of armies. Let the boy drown in it. “The Andelin for my duchy,” Remin said. The words came to him like prophecy. “The Brede for my own. And your daughter for my wife.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“Her Grace has something to show you.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze, resisting the urge to say my wife again. Everyone knew that Ophele was a superior wife. He didn’t need to keep rubbing it in their faces.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Stardust Child

“But Ophele’s mind was a busy place, and her life had never been her own. No matter how limited her options, no matter how cramped her prison, she had never been able to stop seeking a way out. A pattern she might exploit. A solution to the problem.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“How did you come to serve His Grace?” she asked when the table was laid, the first polite question that came to mind. Really, she wanted to ask why under the stars they would choose to bind their lives to her, but she sensed she should not lead with that question.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Stardust Child

“Leonin, I am nothing,” she whispered. “What am I without my father, without Remin? I don’t know anything. I only know how to read because my mother taught me before she died. I’ve been pretending, all this time, to hide it from you.” “But why would you hide it from me?” he asked, bewildered. “Because you think I’m important,” she retorted. “But you don’t know me at all. You don’t know anything about me, I’m not special, I’m not important, I’m not anything, and you want to swear your soul to me!”
― Melissa J. Cave, Stardust Child

“Get her wet and take it slow,” Miche advised, and made Remin choke on his wine. “No one’s going to be witnessing the consummation. Make sure she’s relaxed and enjoying it, don’t just jam it in.” “Miche.” “The Knights of the Brede have a reputation to uphold,” the knight said sternly, jabbing a finger at his lord. “It will be a tricky business for an unproven knight, but you’ve always been good at improvising.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“Unaccustomed as he was to noblewomen, or any women at all outside the camp prostitutes that marched with his army, Remin had the odd feeling he was being offered something, and it was not what he had come for.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“For a moment, they looked at the rings together, and then her eyes lifted to his as they spoke as one. “With you, I will share my hearth and my home. The products of my labors.” Together, they slipped the rings onto each other’s fingers. “With you, I will share all my joys and sorrows, for all the days of my life.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“But it had been too late for that before he ever met her. Maybe what she needed instead was for him to make a safe place for her and help her grow, as he did everything else in his valley. He found that he liked the idea. They would both grow, in the years to come.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Stardust Child

“I can do better,” he said abruptly, and his long fingers trailed suggestively up her side. “Do you want to try?” A shiver ran through her. Ophele was quite sure that whatever her virginity was, he had taken it very thoroughly, but there didn’t seem any harm in letting him make sure. “All right,” she whispered, little dreaming of the night that would follow.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“The Duke of Andelin had no mercy for buttons. Otherwise, he was perfect. Ophele’s opinion of her husband had shifted somewhat, and now she was firmly convinced that everything before had been a regrettable misunderstanding, and really he was the most amazing man ever to walk the earth.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Stardust Child

“He wanted her to say something, anything, but she only nodded again as he set her down beside the road in front of their cottage, and he left with the feeling of a job poorly done. If only she would talk. He couldn’t imagine what she was thinking, and he didn’t know what to say to make it right.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“Was it always going to be like this? It seemed impossible that it would be any other way. He was treating her like his horse, feeding her and bedding her down for the night, watching constantly to make sure she didn’t wander off. She supposed she was lucky he hadn’t tied her to a picket.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“Forever after, he would bear jagged white scars on his fingertips where his gloves burned away, and even Remin Grimjaw screamed in agony as he wrenched his enemy’s head from his neck and flung it away, feeling as if he had grasped lightning in his hands.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“He had commanded whole armies and ordered thousands of men to march to their deaths, but he had never been responsible for anything as fragile as a girl.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“Will you make cheese pastries tomorrow?” “Your Highness’s wish is my command.” Flour puffed under Azelma’s hands, stout and strong as a sawyer’s from decades of kneading dough. She was rolling out more sausage rolls and set the pan to rise by the oven. “It is not,” Ophele objected. “You put prunes in the sweetbread again yesterday. You know I hate prunes.” “Good for my lady’s bowels.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“When I plow a furrow, the earth will never forget it,” Remin said gravely, to the sniggers of the listening men, who received all vulgarities with the delight of twelve year-old boys.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son

“Will a dozen dresses be enough?” His jaw set grimly as he took his seat at the table, dipped his quill in the ink pot, and issued the horrifying command: “Tell me what to write, wife.”
― Melissa J. Cave, Traitor Son