Attolia reached to pull from its fabric padding the knife she carried along her ribs, but it was gone. Gone as well were the ceremonial knife from her belt and even the tiny blade hidden in the twists of her hair.
She looked at Eugenides to see his eyes open and his hand holding all three knives, their blades spread in a fan. He tossed them one at a time, into the air, catching each by the blade as it came down and tossing it up again, one-handed, then holding them out, handles first, to the queen. She hesitated, expecting him to pull them back, but he didn't move.
"Have all three," he said.
When she'd taken them, he pointed to a spot just below his heart.
"An upward stroke here," he said, "would be most efficient, but almost anywhere would do the job. You can push me into the water." he said. "I don't know if I can swim with one hand or not."
Attolia waited, sensing a trap. The moon disappeared behind a cloud. Eugenides was only a dark form against the darker water behind him. "Before you make your decision," he said, "I want you to know that I love you."
Attolia laughed. Eugenides flushed in the dark.
"I have been surrounded by liars all my life and never heard one lie like you," said Attolia, smiling.
"It's the truth." Eugenides shrugged.

The Queen of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner

The Thief leaned closer to the queen to speak almost into her ear. "From shadow queen to puppet queen in one rule," he whispered. "That's very impressive. When he rules your country and he tells you he loves you, I hope you believe him."

The Queen of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner

He shook his head, perhaps in self-contempt, and shrugged. "I dream about her at night."
Eddis looked down at him and said dryly, "We have heard you screaming."

The Queen of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner

"What would I have done," Eddis repeated in a low voice, more anguished than her shouting, "what would I have done if she'd caught you and cut you to pieces and sent the pieces back to me?"
"Buried them," said Eugenides.

The Queen of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner

Her words surprised Gen. "You aren't the boy hero any more," she said.
"Was I ever?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.
She smiled, wondering again where he had picked up that particular facial expression. "Oh, certainly you were the golden boy," she said. "You kept the entire population amused. And since you brought Sounis to his knees, you've been the darling of the court as well."
"The magus said something along those lines. All that glory, and I missed it," Eugenides said mournfully.

The Queen of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner

Calf love doesn't survive amputation, Your Majesty.

Eugenides, The Queen Of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner

"When I stole Hamiathe’s Gift, I loved you then. I didn’t understand it. I thought you must be a fiend from hell,” he admitted, cocking his head to one side, “but I already loved you."

Eugenides, The Queen Of Attolia ~Megan Whalen Turner

Your capacity to land yourself in a mess because you didn’t think first, Eugenides, will never cease to amaze me. What do you mean you didn’t think about being king? Is Attolia going to marry you and move into my library?

Eddis, The Queen Of Attolia ~Megan Whalen Turner

“Do you love me?” Eugenides asked without preamble.

“Why do you ask?” she asked and he grimaced in frustration.

“Because I need to know,” he said.

“I am wearing your earrings,” Attolia offered.

“Being willing to marry me is not the same as loving me.”

“Would you believe me if I said I did love you?” Attolia asked. It seemed a genuine question, and Eugenides thought carefully about his answer.

“I don’t think that you’d lie.”

“Does it matter?” Attolia asked.

“If you’re truthful?”

“If I love you” she said.

“Yes. Do you love me?” he asked again.

~~~

“Are you insane?”

“No more then usual, I think.”

“Insane to think of loving me,” said Attolia, and the emotions that colored her usually emotionless voice was bitterness and self mockery.

~~~

(Attolia) “Love I’m not familiar with. I didn’t recognize the feeling till I thought I lost you in Ephrata. And when I thought I was losing you a second time, I realized I would give anything to keep you – my lip service to other gods, but my pride too, and my rage to all gods, everything for you. Then I see you here and see what I have done to you.”

~~~

“Who am I, that you should love me?

“You are My Queen,” said Eugenides. She sat perfectly still, looking at him without moving as his words dropped like water into dry earth.

“Do you believe me?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“I love you.”

And she believed him.

The Queen Of Attolia ~Megan Whalen Turner