Willow

“You’re a menace to society, but I’m off the clock,” he said. “Show me what you got.”
― Mariana Zapata, All Rhodes Lead Here

“This queen seems no better." He came close to me, looking me up and down as a glint of mischief came into his eyes. "But mortals can be entertaining. And they do not break as easily as some think."
Wendell's expression went from one of bemusement to towering fury with such abruptness that both Taran and I fell back a step; Taran afterwards looked annoyed as a cat following a moment of gracelessness. There came a terrible rumbling sound, coupled with that same wet rustling with which I am all too familiar, as if the attentive oaks were uprooting themselves en masse and lumbering in our direction.
"You are speaking to a queen of Faerie," Wendell said, and it seemed as if the rustling leaves were in his voice.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales

“Did you ever skip school?” “I grew up under the Marrok’s rule,” I told her. “He was very strict.” I paused. “Of course I did.”
― Patricia Briggs, Winter Lost

“Do you know the fairy tale about the boy who doesn’t know fear? Its bizarre. A boy who has never been afraid leaves home to seek his fortune and is challenged to spend the night in some haunted house. Many headless ghosts and other things try to scare him to death the way they’ve done to everyone else, but he’s not scared because, well, no fear. He gets his reward and winds up marrying a princess—and on his wedding night, his new wife learns about his lack of fear. To teach him, she pours a bucket of eels on him in their marriage bed. The squirming of the eels is so strange that he shivers and shakes and believes that he has finally felt fear.
Fiona read that to Remy when we were children and I thought it was the weirdest story I’d ever heard. For a long time, I thought eels had something to do with marriage.”
Charlie raised her eyebrows. “So what does it mean?”
“Look, it’s still bizarre. But I think the fairy tale is about how desire is terrifying. Love is terrifying.” He shook his head. “And for someone who has tried not to feel for a long time, it’s threatening. It feels like an attack.”
― Holly Black, Thief of Night