Clockwork Princess ~ Snippets

[Booknut, Head Moderator]

1.) “Why?” Gabriel asked. “Why are you so sure that Charlotte’s side is the right one?”

“Because our father’s is not,” said Gideon. “Because I know Charlotte. Because I have lived among these people for months and they are good people. Because Charlotte Branwell has been nothing but kind to me. And Sophie loves her.”

“And you love Sophie.”

Gideon’s mouth tensed.

“She’s a mundane and a servant,” said Gabriel. “I don’t know what you expect to come of it, Gideon.”

“Nothing,” Gideon said roughly. “I expect nothing. But the fact that you believe I should shows that our father brought us up to believe that we should do right only if some reward was the result. I will not betray the word I have given Charlotte; that is the situation, Gabriel. If you do not want a part of it, I can send you to live with the Blackthorns. But I will not lie to Charlotte.”

“Yes, you will,” said Gabriel. “We are both going to lie to Charlotte. And I will tell you why.”

2.)
“Will.” Tessa caught at his wrist. “You would not abandon me now — not leave me the only one who still hopes? I cannot do it without you.”

He took a deep breath, half-closing his shadowed blue eyes. “Of course not. I will help. I will continue. It is only —”

He broke off, turning his face away. The light that came down through the window high above illuminated cheek and chin and the curve of his jaw.

“Only what?”

“You remember what else I said to you that day — that day in the drawing-room?”

3.)
Rage flared up in Tessa and she considered belting Woolsey with the poker whether he came near her or not. He had moved awfully quickly while fighting Will, though, and she didn’t fancy her chances. “You don’t know James Carstairs. Don’t speak about him.”

“Love him, do you?” Woolsey managed to make it sound unpleasant. “But you love Will, too.”

Tessa froze. She had known that Magnus knew of Will’s affection for her, but the idea that what she felt for him in return was written across her face was too terrifying to contemplate.

4.)
Charlotte shook her head. “There is a need here for mercy and pity. Jessamine is not what she once was — as any of you would know if you had visited her in the Silent City.”

“I have no wish to visit with traitors,” said Will.