The Queer Principles of Kit Webb

by Cat Sebastian

There were rich men who didn’t use their money and power as cudgels, but they still always knew that they had a cudgel ready at hand. They got so used to it, they probably thought they were doing a grand thing by not wielding it.

“I used to think that revenge was about defending one’s honor, but it turns out that honor is just spite dressed up for Sunday.”

“what I had thought were principles were merely manners, and they’re utterly insufficient for my present circumstances. I keep running into information that makes me have to sort of reorganize everything in my brain. You know when you get a new book, you have to slide everything on your shelf over to accommodate it?” He

But he also knew that the moral of Scarlett’s story wasn’t that rich men abandon their conquests; it was that when you’re treated badly, you start to believe you don’t deserve any better.

he found that having thrown out a good number of his principles and reorganized the remaining ones, it was getting easier and easier to make room for new ideas.

Percy realized he had had it all wrong when he told Kit that honor is just spite dressed up; spite was honor when it was the only weapon you had against someone more powerful.

But no matter; Kit cared for the man. Kit also seemed to care for Percy, which not only gave him and Rob something in common, but proved that Kit was a terrible judge of character.

“I’m sorry your father tried to murder you after you pulled a pistol on him” were a reasonable sort of sentiment,

Percy was somehow still young or naive enough to think that there was any difference between being strong and acting strong.

The world was filled with people who felt all kinds of things and couldn’t manage to shape those feelings into something that would last.

Love, while a fine thing, might be little more than an accident. It was what came next that mattered.

“I’d be delighted to turn traitor to my class,” Percy said easily. “Honestly, I’ve been wondering when you’d ask.”