Reactions to Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, in no particular order
1. Oh, Ivan, you chivalrous sweetheart. (Sounds better than Ivan-you-idiot, anyway.)
2. I like that he takes offense at the notion that he'd be less likely to come to the rescue of a homely girl than a pretty one.
3. "Maybe I should have started with the ponies" is going on my list of Best Come-ons Ever. (Though the one that makes me catch my breath is still, "So, so illuminate me...")
4. Gee, someone who feels like the normal, dull, ordinary one in a sparkling family, and hates it when her family keeps dragging her into danger. That sounds familiar...
5. I love seeing Miles through other people's eyes. Simon Illyan, too. (What the HELL, Simon? But he got what he dearly wanted out of this whole event - part of me wonders whether undermining hated architecture was part of his plan all along...)
6. I wish I'd been a fly on the wall for Lady Alys's conversation with Count Falco.
7. Poor Gregor. Mind you, I feel that a lot, reading this series. At least he has Laisa, and the utter loyalty of a number of close relatives who would rather cut off their own heads than see him come to harm (because then they might get his job...).
8. You know it's love when she's thinking she should have kept the box of instant groats as a souvenir, when she's fleeing for her life...
9. "Unhand Lady Vorpatril!" = something Ivan's waited all his life to declaim with appropriate force. I can just picture it.
10. "Ivan Xav is a gift." = something he's waited all his life to hear. Oh, so sweet!
11. Oh, such a hard exile. Gods grant us all such hard and painful exiles. With fruity girly drinks, too.