Saskia

“Little Irina must be a woman grown by now. A beauty, I have heard, surely?' It was more mockery: he had heard nothing of the sort, of course. I had traveled with my father; the court and his advisers knew I was nothing out of the ordinary, and hardly a girl to turn a young tsar's head - if he had been in any danger of turning his head at all, except perhaps all the way round like an owl.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“And more to the point, I was reasonably certain he wasn’t going to try and devour my soul. My expectations for a husband had lowered.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Because my demon told me to” isn’t a generally accepted reason,”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver