How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The younger stepsister, Olive, said little, but the little was astonishing. She wanted to know whether people had to give me their wealth if I told them to. When I asked her why I'd want to take my subjects' money, she was surprised. "To become richer," she said as though stating the obvious. (22.51)
Well, it's a good thing that Olive isn't going to become queen. This entry from Char's journal shows that her idea of power is all wrong: she equates royal power with complete control over subjects and views its ultimate goal as wealth rather than, you know, helping keep those subjects safe and happy.
Quote #8
I watched Lucinda. She muttered no incantations, waved no wand. For a moment, her gaze shifted, and she seemed to stare within, not out. Then she winked at me. (26.89)
This is kind of cool, since we're used to thinking of fairy power as involving, like, dust and waving magic wands. Instead, it comes from within … just like Ella's power. (Well, she does have a little fairy blood.)
Quote #9
Char was looking at me with such gladness, and I loved him so. I was the cause of his joy and would be the cause of his destruction: a secret delivered to his enemies, a letter written in my own hand, a covert signal given by me, poison in his glass, a dagger in his ribs, a fall from a parapet. (29.47)
We didn't get much of a sense that being Kyrria's monarch was so dangerous, but evidently it is. In the end, Ella's determination not to be the instrument of harm to Char is what lets her save herself. Loving freely turns out to be the same as the power to determine your own life choices.