Tarquin Quotes

“Meg slashed through the last of Tarquin’s minions. That was a good thing, I thought distantly. I didn’t want her to die, too. Hazel stabbed Tarquin in the chest. The Roman king fell, howling in pain, ripping the sword hilt from Hazel’s grip. He collapsed against the information desk, clutching the blade with his skeletal hands.
Hazel stepped back, waiting for the zombie king to dissolve. Instead, Tarquin struggled to his feet, purple gas flickering weakly in his eye sockets.
“I have lived for millennia,” he snarled. “You could not kill me with a thousand tons of stone, Hazel Levesque. You will not kill me with a sword.”
I thought Hazel might fly at him and rip his skull off with her bare hands. Her rage was so palpable I could smell it like an approaching storm. Wait…I did smell an approaching storm, along with other forest scents: pine needles, morning dew on wildflowers, the breath of hunting dogs.
A large silver wolf licked my face. Lupa? A hallucination? No…a whole pack of the beasts had trotted into the store and were now sniffing the bookshelves and the piles of zombie dust.
Behind them, in the doorway, stood a girl who looked about twelve, her eyes silver-yellow, her auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed for the hunt in a shimmering gray frock and leggings, a white bow in her hand. Her face was beautiful, serene, and as cold as the winter moon.
She nocked a silver arrow and met Hazel’s eyes, asking permission to finish her kill. Hazel nodded and stepped aside. The young girl aimed at Tarquin.
“Foul undead thing,” she said, her voice hard and bright with power. “When a good woman puts you down, you had best stay down.”
Her arrow lodged in the center of Tarquin’s forehead, splitting his frontal bone. The king stiffened. The tendrils of purple gas sputtered and dissipated. From the arrow’s point of entry, a ripple of fire the color of Christmas tinsel spread across Tarquin’s skull and down his body, disintegrating him utterly. His gold crown, the silver arrow, and Hazel’s sword all dropped to the floor.
I grinned at the newcomer. “Hey, Sis.”
― Rick Riordan, The Tyrant’s Tomb

“She's elegant," Olivia stated. "I would kill to have her figure."

"Really?"

"Of course. I have always wished to look precisely like her. Though obviously, not enough to avoid food," she added.

"That's madness. You have everything she doesn't."

Olivia opened her mouth, ready to argue.

"Everything she hasn't."

She frowned at him.

"Including me.”
― Eloisa James, The Duke Is Mine

“I'm thinking it would be very easy to love you. And easier to call you my friend.'

He smiled at me- broad and without restraint. 'I would not object to either.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Rhys followed that gaze. 'Her breasts are rather spectacular, aren't they? Delicious as ripe apples.'

I fought the urge to scowl, and instead slid my attention to him, as indolently as he'd looked at me, at the others. 'Here I was, thinking you had a fascination with my mouth.'

Delighted surprise lit Rhys' eyes, there and gone in a heartbeat.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Like a strange rain, the water rose from the floor as I willed it to become like those stars Rhys had summoned in his blanket of darkness. I willed the droplets to separate until they hung around us, catching the light and sparkling like crystals on a chandelier.

Rhys broke my stare to study them. 'I suggest,' he murmured, 'you not show Tarquin that little trick in the bedroom.'

I sent each and every one of those droplets shooting for the High Lord's face.

Too fast, too swiftly for him to shield. Some of them sprayed me as they ricocheted off him.

But of us now soaking, Rhys gaped a bit- then smiled.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Tarquin was summer incarnate in turquoise and gold, bits of emerald shining at his buttons and fingers. A crown of sapphire and white gold fashioned like cresting waves sat atop his seafoam-coloured hair- so exquisite that I often caught myself staring at it.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“I wasn't entirely sure that even with the hardships he'd encountered Under the Mountain, Tarquin could understand the darkness that might always be in me. Not only from Amarantha, but from years spent hungry, and desperate.

That I might always be a little bit vicious or restless. That I might crave peace, but never a cage of comfort.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Sometimes I think Rhysand... I think he might have been her whore to spare us all from her full attention.'

I would betray nothing of what I knew. But I suspected her could see it in my eyes- the sorrow at the thought.

'I know I'm supposed to look at you,' Tarquin said, 'and see that he's made you into a pet, into a monster. But I see the kindness in you. And I think that reflects more on him that anything. I think it shows that you and he might have many secrets-”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Is it true that you left Tamlin because he locked you up in his house?'

I tried to block out the memory, the terror and agony of my heart breaking apart. But I nodded.

'And is it true that you were saved from confinement by the Night Court?'

I nodded again.

Tarquin said, 'The Spring Court is my southern neighbour. I have tenuous ties with them. But unless asked, I will not mention that you were here.'

Thief, liar, manipulator. I didn't deserve his alliance.

But I bowed my head in thanks.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Is that what got under your skin? That I shut you out, or that it was so easy for Tarquin to get in?'

'What got under my skin,' Rhys said, his breathing a bit uneven, 'is that you smiled at him.'

The rest of the world faded to mist as the words sank in. 'You are jealous.'

His shook his head, stalking to the little table against the far wall and knocking back a glass of amber liquid. He braced his hands on the table, the powerful muscles of his back quivering beneath his shirt as the shadow of those wings struggled to take form.

'I heard what you told him,' he said. 'That you thought it would be easy to fall in love with him. You meant it, too.'

'So?' It was the only thing I could think of to say.

'I was jealous- of that. That I'm not... that sort of person. For anyone. The Summer Court has always been neutral; they only showed backbone during those years Under the Mountain. I spared Tarquin's life because I'd heard how he wanted to even out the playing field between High Far and lesser faeries. I've been trying to do that for years. Unsuccessfully, but... I spared him for that alone. And Tarquin, with his neutral court... he will never have to worry about someone walking away because the threat against their life, their children's lives, will always be there. So, yes, I was jealous of him- because it will always be easy for him. And he will never know what it is to look up at the night sky and wish.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“There was a shield in place- a shield of sea glass and coral and the undulating sea.

I became the sea, became the whisper of waves against stone, the glimmer of sunlight on a gull's white wings. I became him- became that mental shield.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“You were the only ones who came to help. The only ones. And yet you asked for nothing in return. Why?'

Rhys's voice was a bit hoarse as he asked, 'Isn't that what friends do?'

A subtle, quiet offer.

Tarquin took him in. Then me. And the others. 'I rescind the blood rubies. Let there be no debts between us.'

'Don't expect Amren to return hers,' Cassian muttered. 'She's grown attached to it.'

I could have sworn a smile tugged at Varian's mouth.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“You and pretty Tarquin had a moment today. Do you truly think he'll join us?'

'If you mean in bed, definitely not,' Rhys said with a wry smile as he again sprawled on his spread of cushions. 'But if you mean in this war... Yes, I believe he means to fight.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“Amren and Varian didn't even bother to join us.

No, she'd just wrapped her legs around his waist, right there in front of us, and he'd stood, lifting her in one swift movement. I wasn't entirely sure how Varian managed to walk them out of the tent while still kissing her. Amren's hands dragging through his hair, letting out noises that were unnervingly like purring as they vanished into the camp.

Rhys had let out a low laugh as we all gawked in their wake. 'I suppose that's how Varian decided he'd tell Amren he was feeling grateful she ordered us to go to Adriata.'

Tarquin cringed. 'We'll alternate who has to deal with them on holidays.'

Cassian chuckled hoarsely...”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin