222
" Jonquil went by with a full plate of food, and Petunia reached out and tried to snag a small cream puff from it. Jonquil lifted it over Petunia's head before she could, and clucked her tongue. " These are for Lily," she said." Oh really?" Petunia gave her a look." And possibly some are for that Analousian duke Jacques invited," Jonquil said with a sparkle in her eye. " But none are for you." Then she flipped one to Oliver. " You can have one, my lord earl," she said, and twirled away." These are excellent," Oliver said, eating half of it in one bite. He fed Petunia the other half so she wouldn't get cream on her knitting. Oliver was just leaning in to steal a kiss - " I hope this means you're planning on marrying her, boy," barked King Gregor.Oliver leaped to his feet. " Sire! Yes! I mean ... I ... sire!" " I didn't pardon you and restore your earldom so that you could loll around my gardens flirting with my daughters," King Gregor said. Then he bent down and gave Petunia a kiss on the cheek. " I like him," he whispered loudly in her ear." Me too," she whispered back, blushing. "
227
" What's the truth? The truth is what happened to you and him or her, over the years, and what didn't happen. The truth is what you said and didn't say, how much you tried, how you changed, and whether you were lucky. I believe in luck. I think luck plays a huge part in success. Or failure. In the end, who cares about the truth? You still end up divorced. Finally, the biggest asshole wins. Sort of. At least the biggest asshole takes home the must stuff. If you consider this winning then have at it. You're an asshole. "
― Margaret Overton , Good in a Crisis: A Memoir of Divorce, Dating, and Other Near-Death Experiences
231
" Dimitri moved closer to me, his eyes sparkling with a secret. " It gets better:you're Lissa's guardian." " What?" I almost pulled away. " That's impossible. They'd never..." " They did. She'll have others, so they probably figured it was okay to let you hang around if someone else could keep you in line," he teased." You're not..." A lump formed in my stomach, a reminder of a problem that has plagued so long ago. " You're not one of her guardian too, are you?" It had constantly been a concern, that conflict of interest. I wanted him near me. Always. But how could he watch Lissa and put her safely first if we were worried about each other? The past was returning to torment us." No. I have a different assignment." " Oh." For some reason, that made me a little sad too, even though I knew it was the smarter choice." I'm Christian's guardian." This time I did sit up, doctor's orders or no. Stitches tugged in my chest, but I ignored the sharp discomfort. " But that's...that's practically the same thing! "
238
" ...Dickey Perrott, you Jago whelp, look at them - look hard. Some day if you are clever - cleverer than anyone in the Jago right now - if you're only scoundrel enough, and brazen enough, and lucky enough - one of a thousand - maybe you'll be like them: bursting with high living, drunk when you like, red and pimply. There it is - that's your aim in life - there's your pattern. Learn to read and write, learn all you can, learn cunning, spare nobody and stop at nothing, and perhaps - It's the best the world has for you, for the Jago's got you, and that's the only way out, except gaol and the gallows. So do your devil most, or God help you, Dicky Perrot - though he wont: for the Jago's got you! "
239
" I mean, I tried to change, I did, everybody tries to change, Michael. Not just the queerboys. You look in the mirror and all you see is what's wrong, I'm not _this_ enough or I'm not _that_ enough, and you spend your whole life trying to fix yourself, because you just want to be okay inside your head, you know?I know you know this, Michael, that's why you're here. You're looking for the fix. Yeah, that's why they call it a fix. Because you think you're broken. Only you're not--that broken feeling? That's normal. That's how you know you're normal. If you're not feeling it, you really are broken, that's the joke "