“Laurent could inspire homicidal tendencies simply by breathing.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“A golden prince was easy to love if you did not have to watch him picking wings off flies.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Is there anyone at this court who isn't my enemy?"
"Not if I can help it," Laurent said.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Damen's understanding of Laurent rearranged itself, in order that he might despise him more accurately.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Nephew. you were not invited to these discussions.'
'And yet, here I am. It's very irritating, isn't it?' Said Laurent.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“He's the captive Kastor sent you to train?' said Torveld, curiously. 'He's--safe?'
'He looks combative, but he's really very docile and adoring,' said Laurent, 'like a puppy.'
'A puppy,' said Torveld.
To demonstrate, Laurent picked up a confection of crushed nuts and honey and held it out to Damen as he had at the ring, between thumb and forefinger.
'Sweetmeat?' said Laurent.
In the stretched-out moment that followed, Damen thought explicitly about killing him.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“He didn't reprimand Damen. He didn't seem particularly displeased with barbaric behavior, as long as it was directed outward. Like a man who enjoys owning an animal who will rake others with its claws but eat peacefully from his own hand, he was giving his pet a great deal of license.
As a result, courtiers kept one eye on Damen, giving him a wide berth. Laurent used that to his advantage, using the propensity of courtiers to fall back in reaction to Damen's presence as a means of extricating himself smoothly from conversation.
The third time this happened Damen said, 'Shall I make a face at the ones you don't like, or is it enough to just look like a barbarian?”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Torveld favoured Laurent with another of those long, admiring looks that were starting to come with grating frequency. Damen frowned. Laurent was a nest of scorpions in the body of one person. Torveld looked at him and saw a buttercup.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“I didn't send them after you,' said the cool, familiar voice. 'I sent them after the Regent's Guard, who were making enough racket to raise the dead, the drunk, and those without ears.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Damen bridged the nine chilly inches at the first opportunity. 'What are you doing? You were the one who warned me about Nicaise.' He spoke in a low voice.
Laurent went very still; then he deliberately shifted in his seat and leaned in, bringing his lips right to Damen's ear. 'I think I'm out of stabbing range, he's got short arms. Or perhaps he'll try to throw a sugar plum? That is difficult. If I duck he'll hit Torveld.'
Damen gritted his teeth. 'You know what I meant. He heard you. He's going to act. Can't you do something about it?'
'I'm occupied.'
'Then let me do something.'
'Bleed on him?' said Laurent.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“I don't have sleeves to carry handkerchiefs in,' said Damen. 'I wouldn't mind being given a knife.' 'Or a fork?' said Laurent.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“It was like watching a man smile as he surrendered himself to drown in deep water.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“This place sickened him. Anywhere else, you simply killed your enemy with a sword. Or poisoned him, if you had the honourless instincts of an assassin. Here, it was layer upon layer of constructed double-dealing, dark, polished and unpleasant. He would have assumed tonight the product of Laurent's own mind, if Laurent were not so clearly the victim.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“You seem to vacillate between assistance and assault. Which is it?'
'I'm not surprised you've driven three men to try and kill you, I'm only surprised there weren't more,' said Damen, bluntly.
'There were,' said Laurent, 'more.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“You have to admire it,' said Laurent, in a detached voice. 'It's the perfect time to attack Akielos. Kastor is dealing with factional problems from the kyroi. Damianos, who turned the tide at Marlas, is dead. And the whole of Vere would rise up against a bastard, especially one who had cut down a Veretian prince. If only my murder weren't the catalyst, it's a scheme I would wholeheartedly support.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Nicaise had picked up a gilt three-pronged fork, but had paused before sampling the dish in order to speak. The fear he'd shown of Damen at the ring seemed to still be there. His knuckles, clenched around the fork, were white.
'It's all right,' said Damen. He spoke to the boy as gently as he could. 'I'm not going to hurt you.'
Nicaise stared back at him. His huge blue eyes were fringed like a whore's, or like a doe's. Around them, the table was a coloured wall of voices and laughter, courtiers caught up in their own amusements, paying them no attention.
'Good,' said Nicaise, and stabbed the fork viciously into Damen's thigh under the table.
Even through a layer of cloth, it was enough to make Damen start, and instinctively grab the fork, as three drops of blood welled up.
'Excuse me a moment,' Laurent said smoothly, turning from Torveld to face Nicaise.
'I made your pet jump,' said Nicaise, smugly.
Not sounding at all displeased: 'Yes, you did.'
'Whatever you're planning, it's not going to work.'
'I think it will, though. Bet you your earring.'
'If I win, you wear it,' said Nicaise.
Laurent immediately lifted his cup and inclined it toward Nicaise in a little gesture sealing the bet. Damen tried to shake the bizarre impression that they were enjoying themselves.
Nicaise waved an attendant over and asked for a new fork.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“So he's tame,' said Estienne, and reached out tentatively, as though to pat a wild animal.
It was a question of which part of the animal he was patting. Damen cknocked his hand away. Estienne gave a yelp and snatched his hand back, nursing it against his chest.
'No that tame,' said Laurent.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“The dogsman said, 'Tread lightly. Your master's in a vicious mood.' Well, that was order restored.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Trust you?' said Damen. 'You flayed the skin from my back. I have seen you do nothing but cheat and lie to every person you've encountered. You use anything and anyone to further your own ends. You are the last person I would ever trust.'
[...]
'Go, then.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“The guard said, 'Our orders are no one in or out.'
'You can tell the Prince that,' said Damen, 'after you tell him you let through the Regent's pet.'
That got a flicker of reaction. Invoking Laurent's bad mood was like a magical key, unlocking the most forbidding doors.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Damen had half expected a gaudy parade costume, but Laurent had always defined himself against the opulence of the court. And he did not need gilt to be recognised under a parade standard, only the uncovered bright of his hair.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Talik said, 'His contract with Lord Berenger ends soon. Ancel will seek a new contract, a high bidder. He wants money, status. He is foolish. Lord Berenger may offer less money, but he is kind, and never puts pets in the ring. Ancel has made many enemies. In the ring, someone will scratch his green eyes out, an "accident."'
Damen was drawn in against his will. 'That's why he's chasing royal attention? He wants the Prince to--' He tried out the unfamiliar vocabulary. '--offer for his contract?'
'The Prince?' said Talik, scornfully. 'Everyone knows the Prince does not keep pets.'
'None at all?' said Damen.
She said, 'You.' She looked him up and down. 'Perhaps the Prince has a taste for men, not these painted Veretian boys who squeal if you pinch them.' Her tone suggested that she approved of this on general principle.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“I don't know how this interrogation found its way into my bed. May I ask where I can expect it to travel next?”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“A brother's love? You don't know him at all, do you. What's a death but easy, quick. It's supposed to haunt you forever that the one time he beat you was the one time that mattered.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“It was a kind of fire dance in which the stick was thrown and caught, and the flame, tossed and twirled, created sinuous shapes, circles and ever-moving patterns. Ancel's red hair created a pleasing aesthetic alongside the red and orange fire. And even without the hypnotic movement of the flame, the dance was beguiling, its difficulties made to look effortless, its physicality subtly erotic. Damen looked at Ancel with new respect. This performance required training, discipline and athleticism, which Damen admired. It was the first time that Damen had seen Veretian pets display skill in anything other than wearing clothes or climbing on top of one another.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“Order whatever punishment you like, from the coward's distance of a chain-lenght. You and Govart are two of a kind.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“The Veretian palace, afroth with ornament, paid only lip service to defence. The parapets were purposeless curving decorative spires. The slippery domes that he skirted would be a nightmare in an attack, hiding one part of the roof from the other.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“It was true; it was somehow not even a surprise, more like a truth that had grown for some time on the edge of his awareness, now brought into sharp relief. He thought: two thrones for the price of a few hire swords and a dose of pleasure drug.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
“If you are concerned that my memory for wrongs against me is longer than ten months,' said Laurent, 'there's no need for anxiety. I am sure you can persuade me you were genuinely mistaken.”
― C.S. Pacat, quote from Captive Prince
C.S. Pacat
Born place: Australia
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“Those swirls in the cream mixing into the coffee? That’s us. Ephemeral patterns of complexity, riding a wave of increasing entropy from simple beginnings to a simple end. We should enjoy the ride.”
― Sean Carroll, quote from The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
“The beginnings of Algebra I found far more difficult, perhaps as a result of bad teaching, I was made to learn by heart: 'The square of the sum of two numbers is equal to the sum of their squares increased by twice their product.' I had not the vaguest idea what this meant, and when I could not remember the words, my tutor threw the book at my head, which did not stimulate my intellect in any way.”
― Bertrand Russell, quote from The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
“Would the fountain of your mind were clear again,
that I might water an ass at it!”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Annotated Shakespeare: The Comedies, Histories, Sonnets and Other Poems, Tragedies and Romances Complete (Three Volume Set in Slipcase)
“Tell me, Channon," he said suddenly, "do you like teaching?"
"Some days. But it's the research I like best. I love digging through old manuscripst and trying to piece together the past."
He gave a short, half laugh. "No offense, but that sound incredibly boring."
"I imagine dragon slaying is much more action-oriented."
"Yes, it is. Every moment is completely unpredictable.”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, quote from Dragonswan
“Both our dishes looked more like art when they arrived. “I hate to eat it; it’s so beautiful.” “I have the opposite problem. It’s so beautiful; I can’t wait to eat it.” His smirk told me his comment had nothing to do with his fancy looking dinner. I”
― Vi Keeland, quote from Stuck-Up Suit
The Law of Moses
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