It was a bold stroke for her to make, and it appealed to the imagination; but human nature in Zu-Vendis, as elsewhere, loves that which is bold and not afraid to break a rule, and is moreover peculiarly susceptible to appeals to its poetical side.
And so the people cheered till the roof rang; but Sorais of the Night stood there with downcast eyes, for she could not bear to see her sister's triumph, which robbed her of the man whom she had hoped to win, and in the awfulness of her jealous anger she trembled and turned white like an aspen in the wind.

I think I have said somewhere of her that she reminded me of the sea on a calm day, having the same aspect of sleeping power about her.

Well, it was all awake now, and like the face of the furious ocean it awed and yet fascinated me.

A really handsome woman in a royal rage is always a beautiful sight, but such beauty and such a rage I never saw combined before, and I can only say that the effect produced was well worthy of the two.
She lifted her white face, the teeth set, and there were purple rings beneath her glowing eyes.

Thrice she tried to speak and thrice she failed, but at last her voice came.