Sarah Monette

"His mother had been the world to him, and although she had done her best to prepare him, he had been too young to fully understand what death meant—until she was gone, and the great, raw, gaping hole in his heart could not be filled or patched or mended. He looked for her everywhere, even after he had been shown her body—looked and looked and she could not be found."

"“It is the nature of all persons to hold on to power when they have it,” Shulivar said. “Thus it stagnates and becomes clouded, poisonous. Radical action is necessary to free it.”"

"He could tell by the quality of her silence that she did not believe him, but if there was an advantage to being emperor, it was that she could not call him a liar to his face."

"He did not entirely believe himself, but he knew he had best pretend he did."

"“It will cause a great many changes.” “Yes, but one cannot prevent change simply by wishing it not to happen.”"

"“It is not foolish,” Dachensol Polchina agreed. “It is new, which is not the same thing.”"

"They took silence for assent, as the zealous often do."

"The oaths were no more than a formal deterrent to troublemaking, but they were better than no deterrent at all."

"“We have thought you were too rule-abiding to be a good ruler—a paradox, you see—but perhaps we were wrong.” “But youre the Witness for the Judiciate!” Maia protested, which made everyone laugh. "We said rule, not law,” Pashavar said tartly. “There is a difference, Serenity. An emperor who breaks laws is a mad dog and a danger, but an emperor who will never break a rule is nearly as bad, for he will never be able to recognize when a law must be changed.”"