The Winter Siege Quotes

“But God, having as little comprehension of the feminine mind as any male, did not reply.”
― Ariana Franklin, The Siege Winter

“. . . oh shit, you had to be bloody careful when you invoked God; He could amuse Himself by granting what you’d prayed for . . .”
― Ariana Franklin, The Siege Winter

“Will there be traitors, Father?” “There are always traitors. Trust nobody.”
― Ariana Franklin, The Siege Winter

“She knew now why mercenaries unnerved her, not only because they were dangerous in themselves but because they were outside the only system on which her society, real society, was built, whereby everybody owed duty to somebody under feudal law, just as her tenants, free and unfree; her knights; and her manor holders had to pay her in various taxes and service, just as she, their tenant in chief, had to render taxes and service to the ultimate earthly authority, the king. Mercenaries were unattached from the only mechanism that gave order to the world; they floated free of all responsibility except to those who paid them, like disgusting flies sucking at a sweetness to which they had not contributed. That was why”
― Ariana Franklin, The Siege Winter

“And then in response to a reply audible to no one but him, Gwilherm de Vannes, bravest of men, gave one last contented sigh and closed his eyes.”
― Ariana Franklin, The Siege Winter

“A thousand years of dominion went ringing across the Thames like a trumpet blast. Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Norman ancestry combined in a chord that had deafened and conquered nations. It expected the moon to bow the knee. If not, so much the worse for the moon.”
― Ariana Franklin, The Siege Winter