Henry Montague Quotes

“Love may be a grand thing, but goddamn if it doesn't take up more than its fair share of space inside a man.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“Yes, we have quite literally followed you to the end of the earth," Monty replied, "And there was only mild complaining”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

“The truth is that Percy has always been important to me, long before I fell so hard for him there was an audible crash. It's only lately that his knee bumping mine under a narrow pub table leaves me fumbling for words. A small shift in the gravity between us and suddenly all my stars are out of alignment, planets knocked from their orbits, and I’m left stumbling, without map or heading, through the bewildering territory of being in love with your best friend.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“Or perhaps that's just me assigning subterranean levels to every goddamn breath he takes.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky

“Let's get one thing straight," I interrupt, jerking my arm out of his grip with such force that I nearly knock out the woman standing behind me. "You are not my father, I am not your responsibility, and I did not come here to have a list of my faults related from him or be condemned for who I associate with-not by you or that damned duke. So while it's been a jolly good time, being treated like a child all evening, I think I've just about had enough and I can make my own way from here.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“It's a strange feeling, realising that other people you don't know have their own, full lives that don't touch yours.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“I look down at his hand and laugh without quite knowing why. “You deserve some sort of reward for putting up with me.”
“You’re my reward.”
“Shit reward I am.”
“Why do you think everyone needs some sort of recompense for being around you?” he says,
his voice so gentle I almost start to cry.
...
He wraps an arm around me and I can feel the light touch of his hand on the back of my neck, fingers stroking my hair.
"You don't owe me sex, you don't owe me anything. I'm with you because I want to be, and if we're together it'll be because we both want to be. And we're going to London together because we want to, and it's going to be a disaster, but that's alright because we'll have each other, and there's no one on this goddamn planet I'd rather be with than you.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky

“Percy rests his chin on top of my head, his hands on my shoulders as we too turn our faces to the shore. 'Did you know—' he says.

'Oh, are we playing the did you know game?'

'Did you know this year is not going to be a disaster?'

'I don’t believe it.'

'It is not going to be a disaster,' he repeats overtop of me, 'because it is you and I and the Continent and not even Lockwood or your father can wreck it completely. I promise.'

He nudges the side of my head with his nose until I consent to look up at him, then does that tipped-head smile again, and I swear to God it's so adorable I forget my own damn name.

'France on the horizon, Captain,' I say.

'Steel thyself, mate,' he replies.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“...Here, let me see. Stop rubbing it so I can -"
He wicks his hand away from his eye just as I lean, and his elbow collides with the side of my face, hard enough that I'm knocked sideways. I try to grab the bedpost, but my hands are so slippery that Islide right off, and crash to the floor, my head connecting painfully with the corner of the drawer I left open. The bottle of oil falls off the edge and shatters into a soupy, amber pool.
"What happened! Are you alright?"
Percy's got one eye open but blinking frantically, hand extended blindly to me.
"I'm fine!"
I touch the back of my head, and it comes back damp and red.
"No, wait, I'm bleeding."
"You're bleeding!?" He yelps.
"It's fine! "
"It's clearly not if you're bleeding."
I can feel a trickle down the back of my neck, and I clap a hand against it, like I can force the blood to stay inside me if I just press tightly enough.
"It's fine!"
My wrist is wet, and I look just as a drizzle of blood courses down my arm into the crook of my elbow.
"God, this is really bleeding!"
My vision swims, and when I reach to steady myself I put my hand straight into the oily puddle of lineament, and I crash backward onto the floor.
Percy tries to come to my aid, but with one eye closed, he misjudges were he places his foot and steps on me. I screech and he slips and he slips, one leg tangled up in the sheets, and then suddenly the bedroom door bangs opens and there's Scipio. I scream and Percy screams and Scipio lets loud a horrified gurgle, and then Felicity appears behind him in the doorway, claps her hands over her eyes, tries to run with her hands still covered, and slips in one of the dripping puddles we left on the stairs. Her feet go out from under her, and she lands flat on her back at the top of the stairs, hands still valiantly clapped over her eyes, which rather ruins it all.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky

“I want him to come lie down with me, fit his body around mine like spoons in a drawer and not ask a thing and not be bothered by the silence.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue & The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy By Mackenzi Lee 2 Books Collection Set

“And Percy is right there beside me on that beautiful, glowing street and he is just as beautiful and glowing as it is. The stars dust gold leafing on his skin. And we are looking at each other, just looking, and I swear there are whole lifetimes lived in those small, shared seconds.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“Shout at me, I want to tell him. Fight back, because I deserve it. I deserve to be fed all the ways I've made him feel unwanted, slapped, with my own selfishness, But he's Percy, so he doesn't say another cruel word. Even at his worst, he's so much better than me.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“Shout at me, I want to tell him. Fight back, because I deserve it. I deserve to be fed all the ways I've made him feel unwanted, slapped with my own selfishness, But he's Percy, so he doesn't say another cruel word. Even at his worst, he's so much better than me.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

“Shout at me, I want to tell him. Fight back, because I deserve it. I deserve to be fed all the ways I've made him feel unwanted, slapped with my own selfishness. But he's Percy, so he doesn't say another cruel word. Even at his worst, he's so much better than me.”
― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue