These Ruthless Deeds Quotes

“Is your power still working?” I asked Mr. Kent.
“I don’t know. Do you find me handsome?” Mr. Kent returned.
“Yes,” I replied, following it with a growl.
“Everything is clearly in order here,” Mr. Kent said.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“What are you—” I paused and it hit me. “Oh heavens, what did you do?”
He shrugged innocently. “Let’s just say … that I’ve been … in a sense … blackmailing key members of London society and editors of the scandal sheets into preserving your reputation.”
I gaped at him. “And by ‘in a sense,’ I mean that’s exactly what happened.” He smiled broadly at the room.
“You—you’re serious?” I found myself half gasping the words but also not finding it terribly hard to believe. Mr. Kent never hid his worse qualities.
He wore them like badges.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“And then I noticed the small cake that still sat uneaten next to him. And another in front of his mother. That was the last straw. I fully disliked them. How dare they leave perfectly good cake untouched?”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Another portal crackled open. “Good God, where are we, the sun?” Mr. Kent shouted.
“No,” our whole group answered in unison.
He shot me an apologetic look. “That one was meant to be rhetorical.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“What I never quite understand about the Season, though, is why does anyone want to get married? It seems to me very much like a slightly more pleasant prison, except the guard never changes.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“It’s almost indecent,” Mr. Kent said with a sigh.
“What is?”
“The way you look at each other.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Thank you for saving my life,” Mr. Braddock said stonily, his eyes unbearably sad. “I will not forget it.”
“And I will send you daily reminders to make sure,” Mr. Kent replied.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“I sighed, leaning against the carriage seat. Perhaps I should take out a full-page advertisement that read: TO SEBASTIAN BRADDOCK: COME BACK, YOU BROODING FOOL.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“What are you—” I paused and it hit me. “Oh heavens, what did you do?”
He shrugged innocently. “Let’s just say … that I’ve been … in a sense … blackmailing key members of London society and editors of the scandal sheets into preserving your reputation.”
I gaped at him.
“And by ‘in a sense,’ I mean that’s exactly what happened.” He smiled broadly at the room.
“You—you’re serious?” I found myself half gasping the words but also not finding it terribly hard to believe. Mr. Kent never hid his worse qualities.
He wore them like badges.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“I would do terrible things for the ones I love, Miss Wyndham.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Why, Miss Wyndham,” Mr. Kent replied, looking as chaste and good as a debutante at her presentation to the Queen. “I think we can all agree it’s fair to punish these guilty people feigning innocence every day of their lives, all while helping a wrongfully accused innocent. I would certainly never ask you, but I suspect you agree.”

“You cannot simply blackmail people into liking me!”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“This awful power … it should have turned you bitter and angry and cruel. But despite everything it’s done to you, you’re still kind; you care about others more than yourself. You’re good, Sebastian. You do the right thing as instinctively as I say the wrong thing. You make me better—you make everyone better.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Why are you here?” he asked, staring around me at Mr. Kent.
Mr. Kent laughed uncomfortably. “Why does anyone go to a gambling house?”
“To gamble,” Sebastian answered.
“To find information for our plan,” I muttered, Mr. Kent’s power inadvertently affecting me as well.
“What plan?” Sebastian asked.
I glared at Mr. Kent. “Nothing, nothing at all.”
“No one seems to understand what a rhetorical question is these days,” Mr. Kent said to the skies.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Only you, Sebastian! Only you would get a mortal injury in a lady’s bedroom!”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“I know I should not take such liberties with an unmarried woman.…”
“Especially when you’ve alluded to your indecent past.”
Mr. Kent nodded soberly. “I have. Before I met you, I went to brothels, gambling halls, scandalous music halls, all sorts of indecent places.”
“And let me guess, ever since you met me, you’ve changed?”
He shook his head. “No, I just want to do these indecent things with you.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“I’m terribly sorry, my acquaintance here hardly knows how to talk to people. Please, let’s start again and allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nicholas Kent, and accompanying me is the lovely Miss Wyndham, the frowning Mr. Braddock, the eternally calm Miss Chen, and the … Well, that’s Mr. Redburn. How are you?”
“Irritated,” she replied and another crack of bright light twisted across the sky.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“There were five different doors and I didn't know which to take. Mr. Kent was throwing them open, calling down each in turn.

"Lady Atherton, have you gone this way?"

"Yes" was the distant reply at the third door.

"Oh, splendid, thank you.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“There was not enough tea in the world to make it bearable.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Unfair," I said as Captain Goode opened a door to reveal a beautiful library. The room seemed to stretch on forever. Bookshelves lined all the walls. Hundreds, thousands of volumes. The air carried that wonderfully comfortable and musty scent of dust, age, and wisdom that only worn books can emit.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Mr. Kent raised his brows. “What are they asking?”
“For me to heal a little girl.”
“My God, the brutes, the monsters,” he mocked.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Granted, Mr. Kent was also making somewhat of a spectacle of himself, tasting an unfamiliar pastry and attempting to get its name and ingredients from the poor vendor. Mr. Braddock wore a pained expression, trying to divert Mr. Kent, and Miss Chen seemed to be pretending she had no connection to either of them.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Evelyn, please, you have no idea how much I regret that day.”
“I think I have some idea.”
“I have thought every day about you—your loss. And every day, I only saw how I would make things worse if I were here.”
“And I only thought of ways you would have made it better.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“You play at altruism, Miss Wyndham, but the truth is that you decided your sister was more important than my brother. What you don’t understand is that you don’t just ‘help people.’ Any choice to help someone, hurts someone else. You want to help Britain? Then take from Egypt. You want to heal someone? Then you leave someone else in pain, waiting. You want to save your sister? Then you kill my brother.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Yes, I know that. And you shall always have my friendship as well. But I do not wish to press anyone into loving me. The person who loves me will see me for who I am, good and bad, and say, Yes, that’s the handsome gentleman I have been hoping to meet all along, that handsome, charming, witty, disarming, genius, remarkable, dashing—”
“Mr. Kent.”
“See? That is not going to be you, Ev—Miss Wyndham. Which is why I will leave you to the most ridiculous man in London—who is made much less ridiculous by you. Indeed, I might even say he is tolerable.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Lately, in order to win you over, I’ve been finding myself thinking, What would Mr. Braddock do in this situation? And it took me far too long to realize what that meant: I wanted to tell you that I would not be interfering anymore. I don’t pretend to understand why it is that you would want to be with him, but even someone without my superior detective skills would notice how you gravitate toward each other.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“Was anyone unclothed?” Mr. Kent said sarcastically, clearly not expecting an affirmative answer.
However.
“A bit,” my uncooperative mouth responded and I tried to cover it with a yelp. This was absurd. Both of them were absurd, tonight was absurd, and I was, assuredly, absurd.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“How did you get in?”
He glowered at me and blushed in the early light. “It’s—it’s unimportant.”
“Sebastian.”
“Hmm?”
“Please, please tell me you didn’t scale the walls and climb in through my window.”
He glared harder.
“If you don’t wish me to think of you as some kind of tragic Gothic figure, you really must stop acting like one.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“I warn you, sir, I am more than skilled in deadly combat,” I said, hoping that was something someone more than skilled in deadly combat might say.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“You Englishmen are all the same, when you first learn of us, you treat us like goddesses. You revere us, humbly ask for blessings, and weep with joy when you’re bestowed the smallest token. Until you want more. Until you decide that we were put on the earth to serve you, to fulfill your every request, to raise you up higher than the rest. Then, any mistake you make becomes our fault. Any deficiency you have is due to our cruel selfishness. Any pain you suffer means we’re to blame. And in the end, the best we can hope for is to not be punished for knowing you.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds

“It was a strange feeling, to want to throw something at him and protect him from dangerous flying objects at the same time.”
― Tarun Shanker, These Ruthless Deeds