"Nothing mortals make lasts; nothing the gods make endures forever." — Megan Whalen Turner

Unable to guess the answer, she asked, "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.

"I'll be your minister--"

"Of the exchequer? You'd rob me blind."

"I would never steal from you," he'd said hotly.

"Oh? Where is my tourmaline necklace? Where are my missing earrings?"

"That necklace was hideous. It was the only way to keep you from wearing it."

"My earrings?"

"What earrings?"

Eddis looked at her minister, curious. "Your head?" she asked.

Attolia explained. "He had to be forcibly dissuaded from strangling his son."

"So have we all from time to time," Eddis said seriously.