volume 8 : Written in my own heart's blood
'How did you know who I was?
He smiles.
'The lieutenant said you were the one with the curly hair without a cap who gave orders to everybody like a sergeant-major. '
volume 4 : Drums of Autumn
- You are my courage, Sassenach, and I am your conscience. You are my heart ... and I am your compassion. None of us would be complete without the other. So you still do not know it ?!
volume 3 : Voyager
- Okay, you can come! he said, annoyed. But I, too, ask you one thing, Sassenach: try not to get killed or cut into pieces. It would be very stressful for my nerves.
volume 1 : Outlander
- A clean shot, right there, under the throat. You have to hit quickly and deeply, it takes a little force. If you prefer, you can slit my throat, but you risk dirtying the sheets.
I leaned over to pick up the weapon.
- You would look smart if I did, poor bell! let go I.
I saw that he was smiling under his arm.
- Sassenach?
- What?
- I would die happy.
volume 1 : Outlander
I made one last attempt.
And do not you mind that I'm no longer a virgin? I asked.
He hesitated a moment before answering:
'Not until you see any inconvenience in marrying a virgin.
volume 1 : Outlander
La deuxième fois,je me suis réveillée en sursaut,agitée par une jouissance féroce,le corps tendu comme un arc,les reins cambrés par l'agonie exquise de l' union physique.Je sentais encore la chaleur de son corps sur le mien,se diffusant jusqu'au bout de mes artères,tandis que des vagues de plaisirs irradiaient de mes entrailles. J'ai refoulé la conscience,me retournant entre mes draps à la recherche de l' odeur chaude et épicée d'un homme au désir repu,et je me suis blottie dans les bras rassurants de mon amant.
volume 8 : Written in my own heart's blood
'It's not your liver,' I said. He is on the other side.
- Are you sure?
- Yes, I'm a doctor, I reminded him.
volume 8 : Written in my own heart's blood
'Your son, your nephew, your wife,' I jeered.
Fraser, three; Gray, zero.
volume 8 : Written in my own heart's blood
Here I am again on the threshold of the war, citizen of nowhere, out of time, with no other country than mine ... and this earth bordered not by the ocean but by the blood, whose only borders are the contours a face loved for a long time.
volume 8 : Written in my own heart's blood
Jamie was not wearing a uniform, but when he appeared in his full Highlander outfit, Mrs. Figg almost choked. She had not been the only one.
- By the holy shepherd of Judea, does this man really wear a woolen skirt? she had slipped me. And what is this motif? There is enough to make you look out of the head!
'In his mother tongue, we call it a celebratory beast,' I explained. More simply, we say a kilt. When the reason is the tartan of his family.
She stared at him for a long moment with an intrigued look, turned to me, opened her mouth to ask me a question, then changed her mind and closed it.
- No, I replied with a laugh. He does not wear anything below.
volume 7 : An echo in the bone
The body can easily be mutilated, and the spirit distorted ... but there is a part in the man that can never be destroyed
volume 7 : An echo in the bone
- You could not cry when the children left, neither for your house, nor for your little garden, nor for the poor girl and her baby. But you cry for your cat because you know you can stop.
- Where do you get that?
- Because neither can I cry about all these things, Sassenach, and I do not have a cat.
volume 7 : An echo in the bone
He moaned softly as I squeezed his bandage.
-Mmph ... what happened?
I paused and looked at him.
'How did it go?' Is it to me that you ask?
He stared at me patiently with his valid eye.
-I mean, how was the battle? I know what happened to me, more or less.
'I know that too,' I retorted. You've been cut into pieces like a pig that is being brought to the slaughterhouse and you've got your skull half smashed! You still wanted to play the heroes, that's what happened to you!
-I do not have...
I did not let him finish, my relief quickly giving way to anger.
-You did not have to go to Ticonderoga! You should never have gone! You promised to just write and print pamphlets! Do not fight anymore unless you have to. But you did not have to! But you had to go anyway, a kind of proud, stubborn Scotch and ... and pompous!
-Pompous?
-You know very well what I mean! You could have been killed!
'Yes,' he agreed. I thought my last hour had come when I saw the dragon melt on me. I screamed and scared his horse, who rushed and kicked me in the face.
-Do not change the subject !
-I thought the subject was precisely that I was near death ...
He tried to arch an ironic eyebrow but winced in pain.
-No, the subject is your bullshit! Your dirt of selfish stubbornness!
-Oh that.
-Yes this ! You ... you're just a bastard! How can you do this to me? Do you think I have nothing better to do than run after you to repair the damage?
At this point, I was screaming. To make matters worse for my fury, he began to smile, his expression made even more vulgar by his eyelid half-closed.
-You would have made a good fishmonger, Sassenach. You have the jibe for that.
-Farm there, kind of ...
-They will hear you.
He nodded to me a group of continental soldiers coming down the slope in our direction.
-I do not care if I hear me! If you were not already hurt, I'll ... I'll ...
'Be careful, Sassenach,' he interrupted me, still smiling. If you cut me other pieces, you'll have to fix them again.
-Do not tempt me !
volume 7 : An echo in the bone
A man must always aim for what is beyond his reach. If not, what good is Heaven?
volume 6 : A breath of snow and ashes
And if time is related to God in one way or another, then memory is necessarily the act of the devil.
volume 6 : A breath of snow and ashes
'I was not thinking of anything except to plunge into a bath of warm water up to my neck, scour my skin until it came off my flesh, let the blood flow along from my legs and gently rise to the surface in thick red clouds that would hide my body. '
volume 6 : A breath of snow and ashes
- If you were not there, the sun could not get up or go to bed.
He lifted my hand and kissed it, then laid it on my chest, closed on my ring, and went out.
volume 6 : A breath of snow and ashes
- If I die, do not follow me. The children will need you. Rest for them. I can wait.
volume 6 : A breath of snow and ashes
The door opened with a crash, and Brianna came in, disheveled and staring. She stopped at the foot of my bed and, pointing my index finger in my direction, said:
- You do not have the right to die!
- Ah? I took it by surprise. I did not know that I was going to pass the weapon to the left.
- You tried ! I know it !
- But ... I did not do it on purpose ...
If I had not tried to die, I did not really try to stay alive either. I must have looked guilty because she narrowed her accusing eyes.
- Do not you dare to start again!
Pivoting on her heel, she went back to the door, turning on the threshold to stammer in a strangled voice:
- Because I love you and I can not do without you.
volume 5 : The fiery cross
The bravest are certainly those who have the clearest vision of what lies before them, glory or danger, and, notwithstanding, go to meet him to face him.
volume 5 : The fiery cross
- Is everything ok Sassenach?
'Just a spasmodic rhinitis,' I replied, wiping my nose with my handkerchief.
He glanced cautiously at the forest.
- where ? right here ? you told me they lived in Africa.
- What ... Ah, you mean rhinos! Yes, it's true. I just wanted to say that my nose was running, but I'm not seized.
volume 2 : Dragonfly in amber
- If you have such a low opinion of men, it's a miracle you support us, Jamie and I, laughed Ian.
Jenny waved her ladle to her brother and her husband sitting side by side.
- Oh, you are not really men!
- Oh no ? What are we all about? they were indignant with one voice.
Jenny smiles at them. She patted Jamie's skull and kissed Ian's.
'You, you are mine,' she explained.
volume 5 : The fiery cross
A Highlander was a warrior, but even the most powerful fighter was a man. The madness of the united men had reigned over the moors for a thousand years. It was a madness that bubbled in your blood, nourished by the cries of your companions, by this collective force that gave you wings and made you feel immortal, because, if you fell, your mind continued, screaming in the mouth of those who ran by your side. It was only later, when the blood had cooled in the inert limbs, that the moor was ringing with the women's tears ...
volume 5 : The fiery cross
So that was his reason. As on the surface of the water a face responds to the face, so the heart of the man is the reflection of the man. But the law of courage was the one he had defended for the longest time.
volume 5 : The fiery cross
He laid a kiss on my forehead and headed for the door. Once on the threshold, he turned around.
- These ... uh ... sperm ...
- Yes ?
- Can not we get them out of there and give them a decent burial or something?
I hid to smile behind my cup of tea.
'Do not worry, I'll take good care of them,' I promised him. Have not I always done it?
volume 5 : The fiery cross
- When the day comes when we will have to separate, if my last words are not 'I love you' ... it will be because I will not have had time to pronounce them.
volume 4 : Drums of Autumn
- The work is progressing? he asked nonchalantly.
- Yes ... I put the floor and one end of the roof. Claire and I are going to sleep there tonight, I think.
- Ah.
Roger stretched his neck, negotiating the perilous curve of a jaw.
- Claire says I can walk. Tell me what spots I can do.
- Do you know how to handle tools?
- Not really.
He had built a small bird house when he was at school, but figured it did not matter.
- You do not know how to use a plow?
Jamie Fraser was looking at him with an amused gleam in his eyes.
- No. I do not know how to milk a cow, build a chimney, cut shingles, kill bears, eviscerate deer or fight with the sword.
- Oh no ?
- No, but I'm tough. Will you be ok?
- We'll do it with. Have you ever seen a shovel in your life?
volume 4 : Drums of Autumn
'In the old days, medical students paid men to steal bodies from the cemeteries,' I said, handing Jamie my dirty handkerchief.
He had just hoisted himself out of the hole.
- Dissecting corpses was the only way for them to study anatomy.
- Really ? he said, wiping his forehead.
He gave me a sarcastic look before adding:
- 'Formerly', when was it for you?
Fortunately, it was too dark for Ian to see me blush. This was not the first blunder I made, and probably the last one, but most of the time, they only got me a surprised look, at most. The simple truth exceeded the imagination.
- I guess it's today, I admit.
volume 4 : Drums of Autumn
'One can tolerate the intelligence of a woman, my dear, as long as she is equally pleasant to look at. Conversely, a pretty woman can do without it, as long as she has the good sense to keep quiet.
volume 4 : Drums of Autumn
My father always said that the difference between an American and an Englishman was that the Englishman considered that a hundred kilometers was far away, and that the American thought that a hundred years was a long time.
volume 3 : Voyager
'Do you know anything about midwives?
- And how, my lord!
Fergus dusted himself with elegance before continuing in a solemn tone:
When I was at Madame Elise's, it was not uncommon for a lady to go to bed.
I can imagine it easily. You probably want to say that a lady goes into childbirth.
-Perfectly, my Lord. That's how I was born myself!
volume 3 : Voyager
- Geneva, Willie's mother ... she wanted my body.
Laoghaire wanted my name and the sweat of my brow to provide for herself and her daughters. John ...
He paused, hesitating.
- ... John had my friendship, and me his. But how do you tell all that, then tell you that I've only loved you? How could you believe me?
The question remained suspended between us, glittering like the reflection of the lagoon at our feet.
'If you tell me, I'll believe you,' I said in a small voice.
- Really ? But why ?
- Because you're an honest man, Jamie Fraser.
I smile, not to cry.
'Only you,' he said in a voice so weak that I hardly heard him. Only you, to whom I gave my name, my heart and my soul.
volume 3 : Voyager
When you know you can not help it, it's not so much about courage anymore. It's like a woman who will give birth. She can not help it, even if she is afraid, she must do what she has to do. It's only when you know you can also say 'no' that you have to be brave.
volume 2 : Dragonfly in amber
I watched him, trapped in his eyes. I looked at him and I could see the depths of his soul, his inner wounds. I would have cried for his pain and for mine, if I had been able to. But his eyes were mine, dry and wide open. His body was chained to mine, and he pushed me in front of him as the east wind swells the sails of a ship on the high seas.
volume 2 : Dragonfly in amber
- And as long as I'm there, damn you, Claire Randall Fraser. Yes, I am resentful. I hate each of your memories where I do not appear! Each of the tears you shed for someone other than me! Every second of your life you spent in another bed than mine! I hate them ! I hate them !
In a gesture of humor, he spilled my glass. Once calmed, he pulled me to him and kissed me passionately before shaking me again.
- You're mine, Claire Fraser! To me ! I will not share you with anyone, whether it's a man, a memory or anything, as long as we're both alive. So never say his name before me! You hear me ?
He kissed me again to support his words.
- You hear me ?
- Yes ... I said half-stunned. If ... you wanted to ... stop shaking me like a ... plum tree ... maybe I could answer you.
volume 1 : Outlander
- When I was sixteen, Mother Fitz teased me saying that a girl would be right about me. I told him it was up to the man to choose.
- And what did she say to that?
- She rolled her eyes and said, 'You'll see young cock, you'll see ...'
And I saw.
volume 1 : Outlander
The sun set behind the black fir trees and the first stars lit up in the sky. It was mid-November and the evening breeze was cool. Jaime leaned her forehead against mine, drowning her eyes in my eyes.
- You first.
- No you.
- Why ?
- I'm afraid.
- Fear of what, Sassenach?
- To stop being able to stop saying it.
He glanced at the skyline where the sickle of the moon was rising.
- It's almost winter and the nights are getting longer, mo duinne.
Clenched against him, I felt his heart beat.
- I love you.
volume 1 : Outlander
As we climbed this hill yesterday, I prayed with all my strength. Not for you to stay, it did not seem right to me. I prayed to have the strength to let you go. I said, 'Lord, if I've ever been brave in my life, it's the day I need it.' Help me, make me strong enough not to fall into his knees and beg her to stay. '
He looked at me with a smile.
'It's the hardest test I've ever had, Sassenach.
volume 2 : Dragonfly in amber
Jamie at Claire
I'll find you again, I promise you. If I have to endure two centuries of purgatory ... two long centuries distant from you, will be my punishment, the price I have to pay for my crimes. Because I lied, I killed, I stole ... and even betrayed. And I did not keep my word ... but when I stand before God, I will have an argument that will erase all the rest ... Lord, you gave me a wonderful woman ... and I loved her with all my being!
volume 2 : Dragonfly in amber
- So, you are a lady and you are expecting a child.
Does your husband still let you come here? He must not be a man like the others.
- Indeed. He's Scottish, I summed up succinctly
volume 2 : Dragonfly in amber
On a chivalrous whim, which did not cost him much, His Highness had ordered the evacuation and treatment of the wounded English first. These, too, are the subjects of my father and I want them to be well treated, he said. The fact that the Highlanders who had just won in his name were also his subjects seemed to have escaped him.
'Given the behavior of the father and the son,' I mumbled to Jenny Cameron, 'all we have to do is hope the Holy Spirit does not interfere too!'
volume 4 : Drums of Autumn
A dark thing lands on the driveway in front of us with a soft noise. I stopped abruptly and clutched at Jamie's arm.
'It's a toad,' he said in a calm voice. Do not you hear them sing?
'Singing' was not really the verb that would have come to my mind to describe the cacophony of croaking that resounded in the reeds beside the river. On the other hand, Jamie had never had a musical ear.
He put his foot forward and gently pushed the little brown figure.
'Brekekekew, ko-ax, ko-ax,' he said. Brekekekex, ko-ax!
The toad leaped and disappeared into the tall grass that bordered the path.
- I knew you had the gift of languages, I observed, amused, but I did not know you were speaking toad.
'Not fluently,' he protested modestly. It seems that I have an accent.
volume 1 : Outlander
You know the words of St. Paul: 'Better to marry than to burn. Well, I burned myself slowly.
I laugh again, feeling my heart as light as a sixteen-year-old girl.
- That's why you married me? I teased him. To avoid sinning?
- Yes. That's what marriage is for, right? It makes sacred acts that I would otherwise have to confess.
This time, my heart melted.
- Oh, Jamie! It's crazy what you like me!
It was his turn to laugh heartily. He was folded in half and had to sit on the aisle. He leaned back and rolled in the grass, almost choking.
- But what's wrong with you? I asked, annoyed.
He straightened up and wiped his eyes.
- Murtagh was right about women. I risked my life for you, stole, burned, assaulted, and murdered you. All I got was insults, kicks and scratches in the face. Then I fight you and tell you the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me, and you declare that I like you!
He started laughing again. At last he got up and held out his hand.
- You're really incomprehensible, Sassenach, but I like you too. Let's go.
volume 3 : Voyager
The Highlanders were the most stoic and brave of the soldiers, the sailors coming right behind. I had seen some who had not flinched while I put their bones back in place, that I sewed them up and that I made them suffer martyrdom for one reason or another. But when it came to disinfecting them with alcohol, it was another story. We could hear their cries from leagues to round.