Top 400 C.S. Pacat Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “He wanted to be inside. He wanted to feel Laurent’s surrender shudder and give way, become total. He wanted no denying that Laurent had let him in, who he had let in. It’s me. His body primed, as though only in one act could this be driven home. He slid his hands up Laurent’s thighs, pushing them apart a little. The view was pinked, small, and tight, the curl of a calyx, impenetrable. ‘Do.”

— C.S. Pacat

52. “He let them see the cuff on his wrist, as he let them see him. He knew by now the ever-present whisper: Damianos, risen from the dead. He watched the army fall silent before him. He let the Prince he had been drop away, let himself feel the new role, the new self settle about him. ‘Men.”

— C.S. Pacat

53. “He touched the starburst pattern at his shoulder. He was dressed in Laurent’s colours, and bearing his insignia. That was a strange feeling.”

— C.S. Pacat

54. “Well? Attend me,’ said Laurent. ‘Attend,’ said Damen. The word sank into him. He felt as he had in the training arena when he had been unwilling to go near the cross. ‘Have you forgotten how?’ Laurent said. He said, ‘The last time, this did not end pleasantly.’ ‘Then I suggest you behave better,’ said Laurent. Laurent.”

— C.S. Pacat

55. “He didn’t turn back to look at Damen. ‘I hurt you, Laurent.’ ‘That’s enough, stop,’ said Laurent. ‘It wasn’t right. You were just a boy. You didn’t deserve what happened to you.’ ‘I said that’s enough.’ ‘Is it so hard to hear?’ He.”

— C.S. Pacat

56. “If you stay with us, you will find the answers you seek... though you will have much to learn, and you may come to wish you had never sought the truth. Dark times lie ahead.” And then, after another long look, her eyes warmed. “But even in the darkest night, there is a star.”

— C.S. Pacat

57. “I lack the easy mannerisms shared with a lover.”

— C.S. Pacat

58. “They gazed at one another. It was a public goodbye, in full view of the men. Laurent extended his hand. He did it not, as a prince might, for Damen to kneel and kiss, but as a friend. There was acknowledgement in the gesture, and as Damen took his hand, in front of the men, Laurent held his gaze. Laurent said, ‘Take care of my fort, Commander.’ In.”

— C.S. Pacat

59. “Damen was panting. He was aware of his own insistent weight, and Laurent beneath him, pushed forward onto his elbows. Damen dropped his forehead to Laurent’s neck and just felt it. He was inside Laurent. It felt raw and unprotected. He had never felt more like himself: Laurent had let him inside, knowing who he was. His body was already moving. Laurent made a helpless sound into the bedding that was the Veretian word, ‘Yes.’ Damen’s.”

— C.S. Pacat

60. “Didn’t you hear anything that I just said to you?’ ‘Yes,’ said Damen. ‘You tried to hurt me, and you have. I wish you would see that what you have just done to me is what your uncle is doing to you.’ He.”

— C.S. Pacat

61. “Stirring drowsily, Laurent shifted a fraction closer and made a soft, unthinking sound of pleasure that Damen was going to remember for the rest of his life. And then Laurent was blinking sleepily, and Damen was watching Laurent grow aware of his surroundings and come awake in his arms. He.”

— C.S. Pacat

62. “You’ve outstayed your welcome,’ said Laurent. ‘Don’t do this. If you ride to meet your uncle unprepared you will lose everything you’ve fought for.’ ‘But.”

— C.S. Pacat

63. “He was not thinking about tactics. That man had laid hands on Laurent, and Damen was going to kill him.”

— C.S. Pacat

64. “I don’t know. I don’t know why. I don’t know what I did to make him hate me as much as this. Why we couldn’t go as brothers to mourn – – our father – ‘You.”

— C.S. Pacat

65. “Laurent was a nest of scorpions in the body of one person.”

— C.S. Pacat

66. “The Regent’s real weapon against Laurent had always been Damen himself. ‘I’ve come to tell you who I am.’ Laurent.”

— C.S. Pacat

67. “Very well. Let us play this out. You’re concerned for the well-being of the other slaves? Why hand me that kind of advantage?” “Advantage?” said Damen. “When someone doesn’t like you very much, it isn’t a good idea to let them know that you care about something,” said Laurent. Damen.”

— C.S. Pacat

68. “He knew that expression. His sense of danger, highly attuned to Laurent’s moods, told him that Aimeric was better off downstairs with a half dozen men than he was up here with Laurent. Laurent’s lids were smooth over a cool gaze, his posture straight-backed, his fingers poised on the rim of the goblet. I.”

— C.S. Pacat

69. “He is the Prince of Vere! He doesn’t care about Akielos! Are you saying you aren’t swayed by the thought of having him? Open your eyes, Damianos!’ Damen.”

— C.S. Pacat

70. “Think he’ll kill him?’ another speculated. Damen knew the answer to that question. Laurent was not going to kill him. He was going to break him. Here, in front of everyone. Perhaps Govart sensed Laurent’s intention, because the third time he lost his sword, his mind snapped. Throwing aside the conventions of a duel was preferable to the humiliation of a drawn-out defeat; he abandoned his sword and simply charged.”

— C.S. Pacat

71. “To take off the collar required a blacksmith. He.”

— C.S. Pacat

72. “I’ll tell you why Jokaste chose Kastor,’ said Laurent. Damen.”

— C.S. Pacat

73. “When you lost your brother, was there someone to comfort you?’ ‘Yes,’ said Laurent. ‘In a way.’ ‘Then I’m glad,’ said Damen. ‘I’m glad you weren’t alone.’ Laurent.”

— C.S. Pacat

74. “I’ll stay,’ said Damen. ‘You know I’ll stay for as long as you – ’ ‘Don’t,’ said Laurent. ‘Don’t lie to me. Not you.’ ‘I’ll stay,’ said Damen. ‘Three days. After that, I ride south.’ Laurent.”

— C.S. Pacat

75. “In other words, the Regent was to be informed that his Captain had been well and truly turned off, in a manner that could not be painted as a revolt against the Regency, or as princely disobedience, or as lazy incompetence. Round one: Laurent. They.”

— C.S. Pacat

76. “You’re drunk,’ said Damen. ‘You’re not yourself.’ He said, ‘I should take you to bed.’ ‘Then, take me,’ said Laurent. He.”

— C.S. Pacat

77. “Damen thought that if Laurent was holding his hand, he must be dying.”

— C.S. Pacat

78. “It was like watching a boar try to take on the endless blue of the sky. Damen remembered how it felt to be coerced to Laurent’s will. Laurent had never needed to use force to make men obey him, just as he had never needed men to like him in order to get his way. Laurent got his way because when men tried to resist him, they found, sweetly outmanoeuvred, that they couldn’t.”

— C.S. Pacat

79. “Quietly, seriously, Laurent outlined the state of play as he saw it, describing his plans and his contingencies. Damen realised that Laurent was letting him in to a part of himself he had never shared before, and he found himself drawn in to the political complexities, even as the experience felt new, and a little revelatory. Laurent never opened his thoughts like this, but always kept his planning intensely private, making his decisions alone. When.”

— C.S. Pacat

80. “To face his own powerlessness was awful.”

— C.S. Pacat

81. “Jord put a hand on Aimeric’s back. ‘After the first few times, you stop throwing up,’ he heard Jord say. ‘I’m fine,’ said Aimeric. ‘I’m fine. I just, I’ve never killed anyone before. I’ll be fine.’ ‘It’s not an easy thing,’ said Jord. ‘For anyone.’ And then: ‘He was a traitor. He would have killed the Prince. Or you. Or me.’ ‘A.”

— C.S. Pacat

82. “From the severe, straight-backed posture to the impersonal grace of his cupped yellow head; from his detached blue eyes to the arrogance of his cheekbones, Laurent was complicated and contradictory, and Damen could look nowhere else.”

— C.S. Pacat

83. “There were some notable absences. Orlant. Aimeric. Jord. The.”

— C.S. Pacat

84. “Laurent, he thought, and lifted his gaze to meet the eyes of the man who had witnessed the last words of Lord Touars. It wasn’t Laurent. It was Jord. He was staring at Damen in horror, his sword lax in his hand. ‘No,’ said Damen. ‘It’s not – ’ The final moments of the battle faded around Damen, as he came to full comprehension of what Jord was seeing. Of what Jord, for the second time that day, was seeing. ‘Does he know?’ said Jord. He.”

— C.S. Pacat

85. “He said: ‘What makes you think Kastor is the weaker man? You don’t know him.’ ‘But I’m coming to know you,’ said Laurent.”

— C.S. Pacat

86. “Once or twice he heard the low, musical sound of voices. Once, a laugh, soft and lover-like.”

— C.S. Pacat

87. “There was a man I was supposed to meet. He’s got all these ideas about honour and fair play, and he tries to keep me from doing the wrong thing. But he’s not here right now. Unfortunately for you.”

— C.S. Pacat

88. “Isn’t there? I wonder how my uncle is going to react when he finds out that you killed Govart and helped me to escape.’ And then, in the same dreamy voice, ‘Do you think he’ll hurt your family?’ Guion’s hands were fists, like he still had them wrapped around bars. ‘I didn’t help you escape.’ ‘Didn’t you? I don’t know how these rumours get started.’ Laurent.”

— C.S. Pacat

89. “It’s me,’ said Damen. ‘It’s me, here with you. Say my name.’ ‘Damianos.’ He.”

— C.S. Pacat

90. “Laurent entered, an edge to his grace, like a leopard with a headache, around whom one must tread very, very carefully. ‘Good morning,’ said Damen. ‘Good morning,’ said Laurent. This.”

— C.S. Pacat

91. “Nikandros was shaking his head. ‘Or do you really think he’s forgiven you for killing his brother?’ ‘No. He hates me for it.’ He said it steadily, without flinching. ‘But he hates his uncle more. He needs us. And we need him.’ ‘You.”

— C.S. Pacat

92. “I would have,’ said Damen, ‘if I’d had the chance to court you properly. If I’d come in state to your father. If there had been a chance for our countries to be – ’ Friends. He felt the mood shift, thinking of the past. Laurent didn’t seem to notice it. ‘Thank you, I know exactly how it would have been. You and Auguste would have been slapping each other on the back and watching tournaments, and I would have been trailing around tugging on your sleeve, trying to get a look in edgewise.’ Damen.”

— C.S. Pacat

93. “I see you’ve thought of everything,’ said Damen, bitterly. ‘It didn’t have to be – you could have come to me, and asked for my help, I would have – ’ ‘Killed the rest of my family?’ Laurent.”

— C.S. Pacat

94. “Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult.”

— C.S. Pacat

95. “Damen thought privately that princes needed seasoning not protection. Laurent in particular. He had seen Laurent open his mouth and strip paint from the walls. He had seen Laurent lift a knife and in cold blood slit open a man’s throat without so much as a flicker of his golden lashes. Laurent didn’t need to be protected from anything.”

— C.S. Pacat

96. “He won’t hurt the child,’ said Laurent. ‘Whether it is your son or Kastor’s, it is leverage. It is leverage against you, against your armies, and against your men.’ ‘You mean that it hurts me more that my son is alive and whole than it would if he were maimed or dead.’ ‘Yes,’ said Laurent. He.”

— C.S. Pacat

97. “It was what Laurent had been holding in his right hand when Damen entered. The blue sapphires of Nicaise’s earring. The.”

— C.S. Pacat

98. “You have sent Damianos’s son to my uncle.’ She said, ‘You see? I am an opponent. I will not be left in a cell to rot. You will tell Damen that I will see him as I require, and I think you will find that he will not send in a bed boy this time.”

— C.S. Pacat

99. “There was a knock at the door. ‘Come in,’ said Laurent, turning his head towards the sound. Damen said, ‘Laurent,’ shocked and on full display as the door swung open. Pallas entered. Laurent greeted him with no self-consciousness at all. ‘Yes?’ Laurent’s voice was matter-of-fact. Pallas’s.”

— C.S. Pacat

100. “Nikandros – ’ He was staring at Nikandros in confusion, with his clothing hanging from his waist, and Nikandros was staring back at him. Nikandros said, ‘Your back.’ Damen.”

— C.S. Pacat