“‘All power is cursed,’ I say. ‘The most terrible among us will do anything to get it, and those who’d wield power best don’t want it thrust upon them. But that doesn’t mean they can avoid their responsibilities forever.’”

After Oak tells Jude he never wants to have the power of a king, as that power is cursed, Jude reminds him that power is a mixed blessing. Power does corrupt, but that doesn’t mean one should avoid it. If everyone shuns power, who will rule? In fact, it is those who do not crave power who make the fairest rulers. Therefore, Oak must prepare himself for his responsibilities. Jude’s statement also foreshadows Cardan’s fate as a fair ruler, since Cardan has never wanted to be king.

“No one should have the childhood we had.”

Taryn’s poignant statement to Jude shows the depth of her childhood trauma. Though the sisters minimize the trauma in different ways—Vivienne through humor and irreverence, Jude through stoicism and fighting, and Taryn through a show of compliance—it is a fact of their lives. Taryn’s comment also makes Jude review her mother’s flight from Faerie in a new light. Her mother, pregnant like Taryn, left Faerie to give her unborn child a better life. She knew a half-mortal child would have a difficult time in Faerie.

“The whole place looks straight out of a fairy tale, the kind where love is a simple thing, never the cause of pain.”

The lawns on Locke’s estate are landscaped and manicured exquisitely. They appear inviting and gorgeous, a human’s idea of a fairy tale come to life. However, Jude knows the estate’s beauty as well as the notion of a painless fairy tale are only half-truths.