Ashley Cassidy

“Anne's smile was as sweet as poison. 'What matter? So long as it is a Boleyn girl?'
'I didn't want you to come back to court to be my rival,' I said sulkily.
'I was born to be your rival,' she said simply. 'And you mine. We're sisters aren't we?”
― Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl

“In a world where women were bought and sold as horses I had found a man I loved; and married for love. I would never suggest that this was a mistake.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl

“Keep him coming forward but never let him think that you come forward yourself. He wants to feel that he is pursuing you, not that you are entrapping him. When he gives you the choice of coming forward or running away, like then—you must always run away.But don’t run too fast. Remember he has to catch you.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl

“In the darkness of the forest he saw her, and whispered her name, Melusina, and at that summoning she rose out of the water and he saw that she was a woman of cool and complete beauty to the waist, and below that she was scaled, like a fish. She promised him that she would come to him and be his wife, she promised him that she would make him as happy as a mortal woman can, she promised him that she would curb her wild side, her tidal nature, that she would be an ordinary wife to him, a wife that he could be proud of; if he in return would let her have a time when she could be herself again, when she could return to her element of water, when she could wash away the drudgery of a woman’s lot and be, for just a little while, a water goddess once more. She knew that being a mortal woman is hard on the heart, hard on the feet. She knew that she would need to be alone in the water, under the water, the ripples reflected on her scaly tail now and then. He promised her that he would give her everything, everything she wanted, as men in love always do. And she trusted him despite herself, as women in love always do.”
― Philippa Gregory, The White Queen