More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
His only shortcoming was a lamentable lack of grey matter, which he took in stride, cheerfully proclaiming that while he might not have two brain cells to rub together, he was dim enough that he didn't notice their lack.
Honestly-mood.
trying to puzzle out whether he had ever felt the kind of love described in songs and novels. The closest he could come were his giddy school day romps with Darius Featherstrop, but that couldn't be the same sort of love everyone else was always going on about. That was just some confused schoolboy infatuation, a phase all boys went through and then grew out of.
This oblivious gaybe omg hes such a cute idiot I-
"You're a naturally frivolous man. Like a butterfly, flitting from one thing to the next, your head as empty as the flowers it lands on. There's nothing wrong with having all the depth of a ball of tissue paper, but playing a serious role? No one will buy it, and you'll make yourself miserable trying."
Jesus fucking christ do you have to call him out THAT hard? lmao
“It can be difficult,” said Jacobi softly, “to realise that a fond memory has been remembered differently by other parties."
He didn’t want to don his finest plumage to strut around trying to impress the female persuasion in order to win a mate just to appease his mother. Never mind his own misery—what of the poor girl? Surely she would never be satisfied with such a husband, even if Jacobi by some miracle chose to remain in his employ to guide him through the worst of his gaffs and faux pas.
Oh hes actually so sweet though, hes not just thinking about himself.
“Excuse me, but I am very much a master of my own destiny, Jacobi!” “Yes, sir.” “The captain of my own soul!” “Indubitably, sir.” Alphonse huffed. “Good. Now, what am I supposed to wear to this thing?” Jacobi’s mouth tilted upwards. “Allow me to peruse your wardrobe and make a selection.”
Alphonse, baby girl no XD
"You do like men, don't you?" "Oh, yes! I've only recently learned that was an option, but apparently yes, I do. Jacobi was the one who told me so, in fact. But what else has he got to do with this?" She stared at him. He blinked back at her. "Well, perhaps we'll revisit this conversation at a future date," she finally said.
ALPHONSE OH MY GOD
Reaching over, she gave him a firm pat on the knee. "Don't fret, Alphonse. You're not attracted to me. It's just the suit." "Oh, thank god. I was worried I was going to make things terribly awkward."
This is comedy gold.
"It's in North Africa. And as a matter of fact, I prefer the Maghreb to England, Mr. Featherstrop. I'd prefer it more if it hadn't been brutally colonised by a load of white Europeans, but there you go." Featherstrop waved one hand, visibly turning away from such a topic. "Ugh, I abhor political talk. It's so terribly dull." "Of course you think so." Aaliyah rolled her eyes, so dismissive that Alphonse was compelled to clear his throat and step forward to interject.
QUEEN BEHAVIOUR
"And if you'd met him when you were back in school, before you ever met Featherstrop?" she pressed. "What would a schoolboy need with a valet?" Alphonse asked, baffled. Aaliyah made a sound of disarticulate rage, rather like a smothered groan, and released him.
Im with you girl.
"I say," he said softly. "Aaliyah. Do you think I'm in love with Jacobi?" "I think there's a distinct possibility, yes." "I say," he repeated. His head felt hollowed out and his brain replaced with wool, so baffled was he by this realisation.
This boy I swear.
He looked the fool, surely, but then, surely he always did? But Jacobi didn't always return his look in such a specific way, with emotion writ so clearly on his face, like he was looking at something awful and pitiable. Like Alphonse had carved his still-beating heart out of his chest, offering it to his valet with both hands like a child offering his nanny an unwanted garden toad.
This is heartbreking how could you do this to me.
Jacobi's face gave nothing away, so Alphonse lifted his glass and said, "Here, here!" And then took rather too large a gulp of the stuff to keep from asking Jacobi what he meant by it, and why he had yet to move his knee away.
Because he is also in love with you Alphonse you idiot!!!!!
Alphonse made a mental note to study a world map, or perhaps an encyclopedia, in case either of them ever wanted to have a real conversation with him on the topic of their homelands.
"Jacobi?" Alphonse ventured, at a terrible loss and unsure how to right whatever wrong he had committed. "Perhaps you'd best return to your regular dreams for the night, sir," Jacobi said, still looking at him as if from the other side of some impassable void.
Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!
You know I'm hopeless at puzzling things out." "I know, sir," Jacobi said softly. "I just wish you had told me that I was in love with you sooner. It could have saved us all this trouble." "I could have, sir," Jacobi agreed. "It just seemed like something you should arrive at in your own time."
Why is this so sweet wtf.
"Well, as long as I've got you for a teacher, I don't think I'll go too far astray." Alphonse paused. "What about the cat? Did you make her up, too?" "No, I don't know where she comes from. Cats will do as they please, after all. I call her Tabitha." Alphonse took a moment to ponder the concept of dreamwalking cats.
Delightful.
If things weren't alright, then it wasn't the end yet.
This would make a lovely quote tattoo.
She just smiled and linked her arm through Alphonse's, leaning against his side in the very picture of infatuation. "I hardly expected it either," she said easily, wearing a blinding smile. "But it's true: we are very much in love, and we couldn't be happier." And it was true. They just weren't in love with each other.
