"I must hold the country and the soil and for this all my armies, all the Hungarians, shall die before I surrender an inch of it...You will say that I am cruel; that is true. But I know that all the cruelties I commit today to hold the country I shall one day be in a position to repay a hundred full, and this I shall do. But for the present I close my heart to pity, I rely on you..."
"I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman. But I have the heart and stomach of a King, and a King of England too and I think foul scorn that Parma or Spain or any prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm."
Years of discipline and sorrow erupted like a volcano. Shakuntala wept, and wept, and wept, laughing all the while. Not the laughs of gaiety these, or even happiness. They were the deep belly-emptying, heaving laughs of a girl finally able - after all the years she had swallowed duty, never once complaining of its bitter taste - to wallow in the simple joys and desires of any woman.
Humans were mind-blind. They could not taste as he tasted, and so perhaps, they did not suspect how deeply wounded their "princess" was. It even made sense, in a way, for the other things he tasted within that mind glow included pride, a sense of duty, a refusal to whimper or plead or beg, and an iron-boned determination to never, ever show weakness.
"A woman in my place has two faces, one for the world and one which she wears in private. With you I'll be only Sybilla. Tiberias thinks me unpredictable; I am unpredictable."
— Sybilla, Kingdom of Heaven
The Empress Theodora would never wail. Like any woman, she could have her heart broken. But it was a small, tough, stony heart. Its wounds healed slowly, and simply added more scar tissue.
These tears that burn my eyes are all the tears the Queen can't shed,
The tears I weep in silence as I mourn my Heralds dead.
Oh gods that dwell beyond the stars, if you can hear my cry—
And if you have compassion—let me send no more to die!
The tears I weep in silence as I mourn my Heralds dead.
Oh gods that dwell beyond the stars, if you can hear my cry—
And if you have compassion—let me send no more to die!
— "The Cost of the Crown" by Mercedes Lackey
"Elizabeth Mountbatten has now been replaced by another person, Elizabeth Regina. The two Elizabeths will frequently be in conflict with one another. The Crown must win, must always win."
— Queen Mary, The Crown (2016)
Fear and desperation clutched at her heart. She ran because she must talk to the Old Mare of the Mountain. The Old Mare had to have an answer! She ran because —
And then Atalanta realized that she was not running alone. The other unicorns of the Celestial Valley galloped with her, not far behind, just now crossing the river. She had spooked them. She hadn't intended that. But she was frightened, terribly frightened, and she had panicked without thinking. She stopped and forced herself to be calm.
This would never do. She was Dreamspeaker to the Celestial Valley herd, mate to Numinor, the Golden One. No matter what happened to her and to her kind, she must face the outer world with dignity. She walked toward the Crystal Arch with her head high, her breathing slow and deliberate.
And then Atalanta realized that she was not running alone. The other unicorns of the Celestial Valley galloped with her, not far behind, just now crossing the river. She had spooked them. She hadn't intended that. But she was frightened, terribly frightened, and she had panicked without thinking. She stopped and forced herself to be calm.
This would never do. She was Dreamspeaker to the Celestial Valley herd, mate to Numinor, the Golden One. No matter what happened to her and to her kind, she must face the outer world with dignity. She walked toward the Crystal Arch with her head high, her breathing slow and deliberate.
— Search for the Star, Mary Stanton
Anna: "I'm supposed to protect you. What kind of big sister would I be if I dragged you down with me?"
Anna: "Elsa... I'm not a child any more. We missed each other growing up, you don't know what I can handle."
Elsa: "I didn't mean that. I know how strong you are Anna, I've seen that with my own eyes. But you still need someone to watch out for you, everyone does."
Anna: "So who watches out for you?"
Elsa: "No one. I'm Queen, I no longer have the indulgence of being cared for."
Anna: "Elsa... I'm not a child any more. We missed each other growing up, you don't know what I can handle."
Elsa: "I didn't mean that. I know how strong you are Anna, I've seen that with my own eyes. But you still need someone to watch out for you, everyone does."
Anna: "So who watches out for you?"
Elsa: "No one. I'm Queen, I no longer have the indulgence of being cared for."
We had taken tinctures before the banquet to suppress our appetites, as it was considered a display of weakness for Raybearers to eat or drink in public, or to leave a function to relieve ourselves. Every court custom served to reinforce that ancient fiction: that Raybearers were near deities, handpicked by the Storyteller to rule over Aritsar.
"I like to believe I'm still the Lady Alicent, but all anyone sees when they look at me now is 'The Queen'."
— Queen Alicent Hightower, House of the Dragon
"Do you really believe I have all the emotional range of a statue? - You do, don't you? You truly believe I am as serene as the ritual words suggest. (...) The trouble with pretending to have no emotions beyond a vague benevolence is that after a while, you start to believe yourself. But that I do not display my emotions does not mean I don't have them. Oh, no, it does not indeed. Benevolent I think I can generally claim to be, but calm, disinterested, and serene I am not."
— Emperor Artorin Damara, talking to his closest friends at court, The Hands of the Emperor
