2
" Do tell the story,” says Shadow.
Cal taps a finger against his cup. “It was almost as if she just appeared in my room one day, out of the blue.”
“Oh! Who is she?” cries the duchess.
“A lady I met in Renovia,” he answers, as Shadow’s cheeks burn. “In a castle.”
“Renovian,” says the duchess with distaste. “What is she like?”
“Shadow is about to answer when Cal cuts her off. He looks right at her when he speaks. “She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. Brave, courageous, loyal. In all the kingdoms of Avantine I have never met her equal.”
“And how did you propose, brother? Seeing that you had sworn off marriage and children to look after Mother’s estate,” says Shadow softly.
“Ah, but she too had vowed not to marry,” Cal answers. “So we promised to be unmarried to each other, but together forever.”
“What an atypical arrangement,” says Shadow, not quite meeting his eye.
The duchess was fully agitated by now. “Sworn off marriage and children? How strange! What kind of engagement is this?” She takes an aggressive bite of toast.
“A promise between two souls,” he says, but he only has eyes for Shadow.
“A promise can be broken,” Shadow replies.
“Not mine,” he says, so quietly that he’s not sure she can hear him.
“Nor mine,” she says, which means that she did.
They catch each other’s eye, and Cal wants nothing more than to reach across the table for her hand and to pull her to him. But they are at the Duke and Duchess of Girt’s table, and must conform to propriety. "
― Melissa de la Cruz , The Queen's Assassin (The Queen's Secret, #1)
3
" I would rather remain in a cell for the rest of my life than see you throw your life away.”
“It is mine to do with as I wish,” I say softly. “Here.” I push the box closer to him. “Please take it. Find the scrolls. You’re almost free. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
“I am not free, not without my love,” he says, and this time, when he looks at me, I don’t look away.
My love. How do I answer that? There has always been so much unspoken between us. And yet now that we’re together, now that he’s saying the words I’ve so longed to hear, it is hopeless. Our fate is already sealed.
“Leave with me. We can run away; we’ve done it before. We can find the scrolls together,” he says, taking my hands in his. “Shadow. Be with me. Always. I am yours. Be mine. "
― Melissa de la Cruz , The Queen's Assassin (The Queen's Secret, #1)
15
" Where will you go?” I ask him. My hands fist the sheets, rumpling them.
He doesn’t answer.
“I ask too much,” I say. Of course he will not return to me. I am to marry another, and being the queen’s consort is beneath him. He would be under constant threat of discovery, and with little more status than one of my servants. Once he has fulfilled his vow, he has a barony in his future, land, riches, freedom to marry, to have children of his own.
“You ask so little,” he says. “But that is not the reason.” He takes my hand and presses it to his lips. "
― Melissa de la Cruz , The Queen's Assassin (The Queen's Secret, #1)
