"Gifts, like words, carried with them a great deal of power. They bestowed good fortune just as powerfully as they could curse; the could bind people together or tear them apart."

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I don’t want to be a Princess,” she said finally. “You can’t make me be one.” She knew very well what became of Princesses, as Princesses often get books written about them. Either terrible things happened to them, such as kidnappings and curses and pricking fingers and getting poisoned and locked up in towers, or else they just waited around till the Prince finished with the story and got around to marrying her. Either way, September wanted nothing to do with Princessing.

— Catherynne M. Valente