How we cite our quotes: (Story.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Twice now the boy from the flower shop had smiled at her, his whole face flushing pink as he did, and when he was behind her in line at the bakery last week, he'd held her long braid gently in his hand, thinking she wouldn't feel it, but she had. (3.1.39)
Esmé is used to being invisible to other people, especially because she and her mother don't exactly get out much. But now that she's a teenager, people are starting to pay attention to her, especially boys. And she finds that she doesn't exactly mind the attention.
Quote #8
"I mean, they'll think it's gross. Or missing. But it's kind of pretty, like one of those dogs, you know, the ones that catch Frisbees?" Mab only looked at her, nonplussed, and after a moment Esmé added, "Isn't it bad enough I look like a boy with my hair cut off? I have to look like a pirate boy?" (3.4.5)
What a typical fourteen-year-old girl response. Even when she and her mom are literally on the run from demons, Esmé's thinking about what she looks like with her new eye patch. Does she look like a one-eyed boy now?
Quote #9
Since leaving Tajbel, Mab had never seen a mortal woman whose beauty could touch that of the Druj Queen. She was goddess-like in her perfection, the golden glow of her skin, the facets of her sculpted lips, her face the flawless oval of a cabochon, its delicate bones a perfect counterpoint to the vivid ferocity of her gaze. (3.6.8)
The Druj Queen is more beautiful than any mortal, but she doesn't have a beautiful soul behind her cold exterior. Instead she has no emotions—she just moves around in her lovely body without real purpose or joy.