Mariana L. > Mariana's Quotes

“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.”
― S.U. Pacat, 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.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince

“To get what you want, you have to know exactly how much you are willing to give up.

Never had he wanted something this badly, and held it in his hands knowing that tomorrow it would be gone, traded for the high cliffs of Ios, and the uncertain future across the border, the chance to stand before his brother, to ask him for all the answers that no longer seemed important. A kingdom, or this.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“Stop enjoying yourself," Damen murmured. "We're going to be killed, any minute."
"Giant animal," said Laurent.
"Stop it.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“After a long moment Laurent said, with painful honesty, "I...find it difficult to let go of control."
"No kidding," said Damen.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“That isn't why. She would have chosen him even if you'd had royal blood in your veins, even if you'd had the same blood as Kastor. You don't understand the way a mind like that thinks. I do. If I were Jokaste and a king maker, I'd have chosen Kastor over you too.'

'I suppose you are going to enjoy telling me why,' said Damen. He felt his hands curl into fists, heard the bitterness in his throat.

'Because a king maker would always choose the weaker man. The weaker the man, the easier he is to control.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“When laced into his clothing, Laurent's dangerous grace lent him an almost androgynous quality. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that it was rare to associate Laurent with a physical body at all: you were always dealing with a mind.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“Laurent wasn't loved. Laurent wasn't liked. Even among his own men, who would follow him off a cliff, there was the unequivocal consensus that Laurent was, as Orlant had once described him, a cast iron bitch, that it was a very bad idea to get on his bad side, and that as for his good side, he didn't have one.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“What are you doing?" Damen's breath
was shaky.

"What am I doing? You are not very
observant."

"You're not yourself," said Damen. "And
even if you were, you don't do anything
without a dozen motives."

Laurent went very still, the soft words
half bitter. "Don't I? I must want
something.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“Why do you give me good advice?"
asked Laurent.
Isn't that why you brought me with
you? Instead of speaking those words
aloud, Damen said, "Why don't you take
any of it?”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“They are surely gods who speak to him
With steady voices
A glance from him drives men to their
knees
His sigh brings cities to ruin
I wonder if he dreams of surrender
On a bed of white flowers
Or is that the mistaken hope
Of every would-be conqueror?
The world was not made for beauty like
his.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“Damen said, with helpless honesty, "Laurent, I am your slave."

The words laid him open, truth exposed in the space between them. He wanted to prove it, as though, inarticulate, he could make up for what divided them. He was aware of the shallowness of Laurent's breath, it matched his own; they were breathing each other's air.

He reached out, watching for any hesitation in Laurent's eyes. The touch he offered was accepted as it had not been last time, fingers gentle on Laurent's jaw, thumb passing over his cheekbone, soft. Laurent's controlled body was hard with tension, his rapid pulse urgent for flight, but he closed his eyes in the last seconds before it happened. Damen's palm slid over Laurent's warm nape; slowly, very slowly, making his height an offering, not a threat, Damen leaned in and kissed Laurent on the mouth.

The kiss was barely a suggestion of itself, with no yielding of the rigidity in Laurent, but the first kiss became a second, after a fraction of parting in which Damen felt the flicker of Laurent's shallow breathing against his own lips.

It felt, in all the lies between them, as if this was the only true thing. It didn't matter that he was leaving tomorrow. He felt remade with the desire to give Laurent this: to give him all he would allow, and to ask for nothing, this careful threshold something to be savoured because it was all Laurent would let himself have.”
― C.S. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“No, I don't care. Tomorrow you leave. But you're mine now. You're still my slave tonight.”
― C.S. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“You broke a man today. Doesn't that affect you at all? These are lives, not pieces in a chess game with your uncle.'

'You're wrong. We are on my uncle's board and these men are all his pieces.'

'Then each time you move one of them, you can congratulate yourself on how much like him you are.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“I'm not going to use the knife," said
Damen, "but if you're willing to put it in
my hand, you underestimate how much I
want to."
"No," said Laurent, "I know exactly what
it is to want to kill a man, and to wait.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“I wanted to tell you that, because you,"
said Laurent, as though he was forcing
the words out, "You remind me of him.
He was the best man I have ever known.
You deserve to know that, as you
deserve at
least a fair . . . In Arles, I treated you
with malice and cruelty. I will not insult
you by attempting to atone for deeds
with words, but I would not treat you
that way again. I was angry. Angry, that
isn't the word.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“How can you trust me, after what your own brother did to you?'

'Because he was false,' said Damen. 'and you are true. I think if I gave you my heart, you would treat it tenderly.”
― C.S. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“From the severe, straight-backed posture to the impersonal grace of his cupped yellow head; from his detached blue eyes to the arrogance of his cheekbones, Laurent was complicated and contradictory, and Damen could look nowhere else.”
― C.S. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two

“If he fails,' said Ancel. He was stepping into Berenger's space. He put his hand on the laces of Berenger's jacket, and Berenger didn't move away.
'But if he wins?”
― C.S. Pacat, Pet

“It's—everything,' said Ancel. 'All the most elegant fashions, the most powerful people. Here you're important. It's not like a small village where you can never affect the world. I like feeling—'
Like part of it. Like the master of it. Like he had power over men, like if they wanted him they had to pay a fortune for it. Like he was more valuable than the wine goblet Berenger held, or the silver pitcher a servant had poured from. Like he mattered.
'Perhaps I ought to think of it more like that.'
'How do you think of it?'
'I think,' said Berenger, 'that the only person in this place who shows me their real face is you.”
― C.S. Pacat, Pet

“That’s right. He is Charls. I am Charls. We are cousins,’ said Charls, gamely, ‘named after our grandfather. Charls.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“Don't", said Laurent, "toy with me. I - have not the means to defend against this.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“To gain everything and lose everything in the space of a moment. That is the fate of all princes destined for the throne.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“Makedon was explaining the virtues of iron tea to Laurent, and when Laurent massaged his own temple with finely bred fingers, Makedon remarked, rising, ‘You should have your slave fetch you some.’

‘Fetch me some,’ Laurent said.
Damen rose. And stopped.

Laurent had gone very still. Damen stood there, awkwardly. He could think of no other reason why he had stood up.

He looked up and his eyes met those of Nikandros, who was staring at him. Nikandros was with a small group to one side of the table, the last of the men in the hall. He was the only one to have seen and heard. Damen just stood there.

‘This meeting is over,’ Nikandros announced to the men around him, too loudly. ‘The King is ready to ride.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“After a moment, Laurent said, ‘He would have liked you.’

‘Even after I started courting his little brother?’ said Damen carefully.

He watched Laurent stop, the way that he did when he was taken by surprise, and then lift his eyes to meet Damen’s.

‘Yes,’ said Laurent softly, his cheeks reddened slightly.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“I'm glad you're here,' said Laurent. 'I always thought that I'd have to face my uncle alone.'
He turned to look at Damen, and their eyes met.
'You're not alone,' said Damen.
Laurent didn't answer, but he did give a smile, and reached out to touch Damen, wordlessly.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“Don't think, he'd said, because it was easier than saying, Take me for who I am.
He couldn't bear that suddenly. He wanted it without pretences, without excuses, his fingers curling hard into Laurent's hair.
'It's me,' said Damen. 'It's me, here with you. Say my name.'
'Damianos.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“You're still wearing it."
He couldn't help but say it. Laurent's wrist was heavy with gold, like the colour of his hair in the firelight.
"So are you."
"Tell me why."
"You know why," said Laurent.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“You spent the night in the Prince of Vere’s rooms.’ ‘I spent ten minutes in his rooms. If you think I fucked him in that time you underrate me.’ Nikandros didn’t move his horse out of the way.”
― C.S. Pacat, Kings Rising

“He showed me his scars, and in return he let me pretend that I had none.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe