"Oliver," Asabel said, biting her lip. "Don't. I'm a weak woman. Don't. If you give me hope, I'll cling to it. If you say it's okay, then I'll begin to believe you. You'll make me stray from all that I hold dear."
"Forgive me, Princess," Oliver said, taking a few steps closer to her, and dropping to a knee in front of her sofa. "I fear that is what I am. I might very well be a corruptor. The noble customs that your people so cherish – I might be the rot that eats away at them. I might very well be the same for you, and your ideals, but I am a greedy man, Princess. I will dare to reach for it all, until there comes someone that can stop me. If you would give yourself to something so undeserving as Claudia, then I would take you for myself."
"You impudent bastard!" Lancelot howled, striding over, and seizing him by one shoulder. "How dare you? What sort of man dares speak such a thing? To a Queen, damn you! This is not how you court a woman!"
