Mehmed Quotes

No!" Lada shook her head, eyes still wild. "I cannot go in there! If a woman enters the harem complex, she belongs to the sultan!"
Mehmed peered out the window they had climbed through, to make sure their path was clear. "I would not hold you to that, Lada, and - "
"It would not matter! Everyone would know, I would be labeled your concubine, and - "
Radu took her hand, which still hung in the air pointing accusingly at Mehmed, and squeezed it in his own. "And you would be unmarriageable? What a tragedy. I know how dearly you treasured the hope of marrying some minor Ottoman noble, dear sister."
She finally met his eyes, hers still feverish and frenzied. "But I would be his."
"I think our Mehmed is smart enough to know he could never claim you. Right?"
Radu's tone was light, and he turned to Mehmed with a playful smile. Perhaps it was the dimness of the room, or the stress of the night, but Mehmed's face was clouded with…disappointment? Hurt? Then a tight, false smile took its place, and he nodded. Radu's own chest felt equally tight with anxiety and fear and a twisting, bitter sense of jealousy. ~ Kiersten White

If Mehmed died, they would have parted with him declaring his love and her answering with cruelty. He would never know how she felt - that he tormented her, that he was a bright star in the black nighttime of her life.
It would be exactly what he deserved, to die without knowing, because he left her behind.
And she would never forgive herself. ~ Kiersten White

What is wrong with you?" Radu sounded on the verge of tears. "Why do you have to destroy everything good we have here?"
"Because," Lada said, voice flat with the sudden wave of exhaustion pulling her heavily to the ground. "We have nothing. Can you not see that?"
"We have Mehmed!"
Lada looked up. The stars were static, still and cold in the night, all the fire gone from the sky. "It is not enough," she said. ~ Kiersten White

You have a powerful story, Mehmed. It's a great witness, and the writer, Edona, did a fine job of telling it. Sales are doing OK, in a modest way, but I wish it was doing better. With many things we do in faith, we don't get to see the fruit with our own eyes. There may be much more out there that we don't know about. ~ Paul Alkazraji

She would walk into that tent, and she would stab her first friend, her first lover, her only true equal through the heart. She did not want to, she found. But she would do it anyway. It was what Wallachia needed, what it demanded, and Wallachia came before Mehmed. It always would. It had to. ~ Kiersten White

Greece is the mother of science and the source of knowledge. ~ Mehmed The Conqueror

Radu and Mehmed had both given her something she could not give herself, had seen her in a way no one else had and no one else ever would. They looked at her, ugly Lada, vicious Lada, and saw something precious. And she looked at them and saw Radu, her brother, her blood, her responsibility, and Mehmed, her equal, the only man great enough to be worthy of her love. ~ Kiersten White

To Radu, my brother, I do not acknowledge your new title, nor Mehmed's. Tell the lying coward I send no congratulations. He sent none to me when I took my throne in spite of him. You did not choose right. Tell Mehmed Wallachia is mine. With all defiance, Lada Dracul, Prince of Wallachia ~ Kiersten White

Everything had changed. And nothing had. She was still choosing Wallachia over them. Radu was still supporting Mehmed. And Mehmed was still demanding they both be his. The stakes had just gotten higher. ~ Kiersten White

Perhaps, looking out over it, Mehmed saw what the beginning of his legacy would eventually lead to. Whatever Mehmed did, whatever he built, the greatest city in the world was irrefutable evidence that all things died. ~ Kiersten White

She would never admit it to Nicolae, could barely admit it to herself, but she would stay for Mehmed. She would stay for the way she felt when his mouth or eyes were on her. And she would stay for the power it gave her. ~ Kiersten White

Images of being empress next to Mehmed haunted her when she closed her eyes. It was the worst part of everything, knowing that, on some level, she wanted that much power, even at that cost. ~ Kiersten White

None of them are real to me." He paused again, placing a hand flat against the door. "You are the only real thing in my life."
Radu gasped with the sheer physical pain the words sent through him. But the sound of his agony was covered by that of the door opening. Mehmed reached in and pulled Lada out to him, and then his mouth was on hers and his hands were in her hair and he was holding her so tightly, so tightly, and they stumbled back into Lada's room and closed the door.
Radu tripped forward, feet dragging, until he stood outside the room. He wanted to be inside it. He wanted to be the only real thing to Mehmed, just as Mehmed was the only real thing to him.
He wanted -
No, please, no.
Yes.
He wanted Mehmed to look at him the way he had looked at Lada.
He wanted Mehmed to kiss him the way he had kissed Lada.
He wanted to be Lada.
No, he did not. He wanted to be himself, and he wanted Mehmed to love him for being himself. His question, the question of Mehmed, was finally answered, piercing him and leaving him shaking, silent, on the floor.
He did not want this answer. ~ Kiersten White

Either I conquer Istanbul or Istanbul conquers me. ~ Mehmed The Conqueror

He knew Mehmed would build something truly amazing. He knew that Constantinople needed to fall for Mehmed to hold on to his empire. He knew that Mehmed was the greatest sultan his people had ever known. But, like his love for Mehmed, it was no longer simple.
Radu had seen what it took to be great, and he never again wanted to be part of something bigger than himself. ~ Kiersten White

Well, are you ready, Lada Dragwlya, daughter of the dragon?" Fire burned in her heart, and her wounded soul spread out, casting a shadow like wings across her country. This was hers. Not because of her father. Not because of Mehmed. Because the land itself had claimed her as its own. "Not Dragwlya," she said. "Lada Dracul. I am no longer the daughter of the dragon." She lifted her chin, sights set on the horizon. "I am the dragon. ~ Kiersten White

In the spirit of friendship, I must tell you that I am bitterly jealous of the time you spend in the Janissaries' company. I want you to stop training with them."
"And in the spirit of friendship, I must tell you that I do not care in the slightest about your petty jealousies. I am late for my training. ~ Kiersten White

I cannot afford to lose you, too"
"You cannot lose something you do not own. Take me with you ~ Kiersten White

Where are you idiots taking me?"
"Patience, Lada," Mehmed said.
"I am going to start sleeping with a knife."
"If you had had a knife, you would have killed me!"
"Yes, exactly. And then I could have gone back to sleep."
Radu snorted. "Nothing like cuddling a corpse to give you sweet dreams. ~ Kiersten White