The King of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #3)

by Megan Whalen Turner

As the entire court listened breathlessly, he said, “I want my breakfast.” The queen’s lips thinned, and she shook her head as she said, “You are incorrigible.”

He looked around at everyone smiling and knew why they did: because Eugenides was King of Attolia.

When the king crossed to stand before the empty space, the guards could see that the muscles in his legs jumped with fatigue and his expression, when he looked at the steps up, was daunted.

“Sometimes, if you want to change a man’s mind, you change the mind of the man next to him first.”

Am I king? Don’t tell me that I have been anointed by priest and priestess or that this baron or that one has whispered meaningless sacred oaths at my ankles. Tell me, am I king?” Teleus didn’t pretend not to understand. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Teleus lifted a blunt finger to gently trace the thin line of newly healed skin on the king’s palm. “The assassin’s sword.

“You make people forget, with your long sleeves, pretending to be ashamed of it,”

Keeping a private guard this large is like using a wolf to guard the farm. It may keep off the other wolves, but sooner or later it will eat you. I won’t leave that legacy for my heirs.”

“Guard my back, Teleus, and I will keep her safe.”

He is an Annux, a king of kings.”

This does not mean that representations of people and events from the real world have not crept in, but even those have been subject to fictionalization.