Tarabotti (Maccon), Alexia

Manga concept art

Alexia Tarabotti (later Lady Alexia Maccon, Lady Woolsey) is the main character of the Parasol Protectorate. She is the only preternatural in England (and first female preternatural in seven generations), and wife to Lord Conall Maccon, Alpha of the Woolsey Pack.

Alexia is daughter to the infamous (and dead) Alessandro Tarabotti, and the not-at-all infamous (and still quite alive) Mrs. Loontwill. After her marriage to Lord Maccon, she is appointed to the position of muhjah by Queen Victoria.

Appearance

At the start of the Parasol Protectorate series (1873) Alexia is a 26-year-old spinster.

Her features are repeatedly likened to her father, who is from an unknown part of Italy. We can guess that he is from the south, though, because her features are described as 'strong', her hair is dark and curly, and she has olive skin, a prominent nose, and dark eyes. It is stated on many occasions that she is rather tall, being not much shorter than her husband, and that she has a volumptuous figure, with a large chest.

Being a preternatural, her usual style lacks soul. She later makes up for this by having a French maid, which ultimately turns her into a trendsetter for her peers. Later on in the series, Biffy becomes her personal stylist. She always carries a parasol, and by quite early on in the series, it has hidden weaponry useful against machine, vampire, and werewolf alike.

To the sensitive supernatural nose, Alexia smells of cinnamon and vanilla.

Personality

Alexia's personality is described as no-nonsense and blunt, though it shows itself to be far subtler and more sensitive than Alexia thinks, especially in Soulless. Believing that she has a lack of 'natural morals' that would be provided by a soul, Alexia seems to have taken manners as a substitute, and treats rudeness and impropriety the way some treat immorality. Perhaps because of her home life, once out in the world, Alexia gains a bit of an autocratic streak, and it's obvious she doesn't like feeling out of control.

History

She was born in 1847 to Alessandro Tarabotti, an Italian preternatural infamous for his racy life-style (see him fully realized in Gail's e-story: The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar), and Mrs. Loontwill. Her father died shortly after her birth and left her his valet, Floote. At some point during her early childhood, she was visited by 'a werewolf specialist' from BUR, who explained to her her soulless status. She has read a great deal of philosophy in reaction to being told she has no soul (and therefore no moral compass), and in the first book it's made clear that she was raised in an abusive environment, which shaped her self-image drastically.

At some point, prior to the events of Soulless, Alexia was involved in something called The Hedgehog Incident, which has never really been elaborated upon, though it is implied that there is some doubt as to whether or not 'it' was her fault.

At the end of the events of Changeless, Alexia discovers that she is pregnant. Alexia and Conall have a daughter in 1874, Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama.

In the books

Meat Cute

In April 1872, Alexia attends a ball with her sisters and mother. Sophronia arranges for Alexia to be introduced to Professor Lyall, and therefor Lord Maccon as well. Later on, Soap tricks Alexia into the gardens while Lord Maccon is fighting Mr Tiklebark. She attempts to rescue a hedgehog in danger of getting squished and accidentally turns Lord Maccon human again. They get into an argument, after which Alexia runs away. The hedgehog finds Alexia, Lord Maccon comes over to apologize and almost sits on the hedgehog again. Lord Maccon tries to flirt with Alexia, but she doesn't seem to realize he was hoping she turned him human in order to see him naked and he bids farewell.

Soulless

Alexia becomes mixed up in a plot by the Hypocras Club, a group of militant scientists interested in discovering how to limit the power of supernaturals. For her role in stopping these scientists, Queen Victoria appoints her to the Shadow Council as muhjah.

She becomes involved in a relationship with Lord Maccon, who proposes to her by the end of the novel.

Changeless

When Lord Maccon hears about the death of Kingair Pack's Alpha, he rushes off to the Highlands to see after his old pack. Meanwhile, a curse turning supernaturals human has affected London. As Muhjah, she is tasked with discovering the mortal-afflicting source. Alexia learns it is headed in the same direction as her husband. So she follows him north with her maid (Angelique), claviger (Tunstell), sister (Felicity), friend (Ivy), and acquaintance (Madame Lefoux) via dirigible. In Scotland, she meets Conall's descendant Sidheag, and discovers the source of the humanity plague also affecting the Kingair Pack. She ends the curse, convinces Conall to turn his great-great-great granddaughter into a werewolf, then learns that she is pregnant.

Blameless

Alexia is back at home with the Loontwills having left her husband's house after the discovery of her pregnancy. Since immortals cannot have children, there is quite a scandal. And, once again, some unknown person or persons is trying to kill her - which turns out to be the vampires. They fear what her child may one day become. She decides to go to Italy to find someone who can help explain her current infant-inconvenience. With Floote and Madame Lefoux, Alexia goes to seek out the Templars. There she learns more about how the Templars treat preternaturals as well as her own father's past. Conall finally comes around and, after sending Channing ahead to guard her, admits that the child is his own and goes to retrieve Alexia.

Heartless

Coming soon

Timeless

Coming soon

Romancing the Inventor

She and her husband attend a dinner at Woolsey Castle with Major Channing. She then takes on Imogene Hale to protect her from Countess Nadasdy and helps Imogene in her pursuit of Madame Lefoux.

Prudence

Lady Maccon is consulted by Lord Akeldama and Prudence about the quality of tea the vampire is considering going into a business venture over in India. She also has a discuss with Lord Maccon about his impending "retirement."

Imprudence

Prudence first finds her mother sitting in Lord Akeldama's discussing the state of her husband: Lord Maccon. The strain of keeping him under control from the alpha madness has become too great. So Lady Maccon and her husband travel with Prudence to Egypt so they can live the rest of their lives in the God-Breaker Plague zone.

Trivia

• She loves food.
• She read her father's racy journals and is thus rarely fazed by anything sexual.
• Her favorite tea is Assam.
• She speaks English, French, Italian, a little Spanish, and a little Latin.
• She likes to dance.
• Too soulless to have any kind of singing skill.
• She gave Felicity Loontwill an amethyst necklace to keep quiet about Lord Maccon turning her out in Scotland.
• Lady Maccon gives Prudence her parasol while they are in Egypt (since her daughter cannot shift form in the God-Breaker Plague) and feels the accessory should go to Primrose Tunstell after the pair leave the zone.

Links

• Alexia character study at Gail's blog.
• How Alexia got her name, at Gail's blog and more on her famous ancestress.
• The Mad Hatter interviews Alexia and Lord Maccon.
• Alexia's character dossier.
• Alexia manga art.
• Dressing Alexia From the Foundation Up.
• The Mad Hatter Interviews Alexia, Conall & Lord Akeldama
• Pinterest Character Board for Alexia Tarabotti (Maccon).

Images

Alexia & Conall Manga sketches

Alexia Manga sketches

Alexia Tarabboti.

Alexia annoyed.

Alexia defends herself against a vampire. Art by Jensine Eckwall.

Ivy with Alexia in the Illustrated Edition of Soulless. Art by Jensine Eckwall.

Quotes

• “Alexia Tarabotti would not be moved from the punch bowl. She had selected her station for the evening and would wallflower there with the best of them. She should be good at it by now; it was all she ever did at a party. And in this instance, as it was remarkably tasty punch, any relocation seemed fraught with fruitlessness.” (Meat Cute)
• “Miss Alexia Tarabotti was not enjoying her evening. Private balls were never more than middling amusements for spinsters, and Miss Tarabotti was not the kind of spinster who could garner even that much pleasure from the event. To put the pudding in the puff: she had retreated to the library, her favorite sanctuary in any house, only to happen upon an unexpected vampire." (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “Yet he moved toward her, darkly shimmering out of the library shadows with feeding fangs ready. However, the moment he touched Miss Tarabotti, he was suddenly no longer darkly doing anything at all. He was simply standing there, the faint sounds of a string quartet in the background as he foolishly fished about with his tongue for fangs unaccountably mislaid." (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “Alexia's books called this end of the vampire life cycle dissanimation. Alexia, who thought the action astoundingly similar to a soufflé going flat, decided at that moment to call it the Grand Collapse.” (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “With a resigned shrug, she screamed and collapsed into a faint. She stayed resolutely fainted, despite the liberal application of smelling salts, which made her eyes water most tremendously, a cramp in the back of one knee, and the fact that her new ball gown was getting most awfully wrinkled.”  (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “She would have colored gracefully with embarrassment had she not possessed the complexion of one of those “heathen Italians,” as her mother said, who never colored, gracefully or otherwise. (Convincing her mother that Christianity had, to all intents and purposes, originated with the Italians, thus making them the exact opposite of heathen, was a waste of time and breath.)” (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “'You do realise modern social mores exist for a reason?' 'I was hungry, allowances should be made.'” (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “The Earl of Woolsey glared at her. 'Cheap clothing is no excuse for killing a man.' 'Mmm, that’s what you say.'”  (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “It’s simply, gentlemen'—and when she raised her dark eyes they had a slight sheen in them—'I would so like something useful to do.” (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “You are about as covert as a sledgehammer.” (Soulless, Chapter One)
• "In his humble experience, the world had yet to produce a more vexingly verbose female.” (Soulless, Chapter One)
• “Miss Tarabotti felt such rules did not entirely apply to her, as she was a spinster. Had been a spinster for as long as she could remember. In her more acerbic moments, she felt she had been born a spinster.” 
• “She was not undead, mind you; she was a living, breathing human but was simply… lacking.”
• “The ill-informed masses included her own family among their ranks, a family that specialized in being both inconvenient and asinine.” 
• “Even Alexia, spinster that she was, was given an allowance large enough to dress her to the height of fashion— although she did tend to stick to trends a little too precisely. The poor thing could not help it. Her choice of clothing simply lacked soul.”
• “Many a gentleman had likened his first meeting with her to downing a very strong cognac when one was expecting to imbibe fruit juice— that is to say, startling and apt to leave one with a distinct burning sensation.”
• “A vampire attacked me last night.' Ivy pretended a faint.”
• “Please, Lord Maccon, use one of the cups. My delicate sensibilities.” The earl actually snorted. “My dear Miss Tarabotti, if you possessed any such things, you certainly have never shown them to me.” 
• “He could not stand Alexia Tarabotti, even if her lovely brown eyes twinkled when she laughed, and she smelled good, and she had a particularly splendid figure.” 
• “But Alexia’s scent was something else, something… not meat. She smelled warm and spicy sweet, like some old-fashioned Italian pastry his body could no longer process but whose taste he remembered and craved.” 
• “Miss Tarabotti was not certain if he was objecting to the kick or the scream, so she issued both again— with interest. He seemed to be having a difficult time negotiating Alexia's multiple layers of skirts and ruffles, which formed a particularly efficacious barrier in the tight confines of the hackney.” 

• "I man was attacking me with a wet handkerchief."
• “Alexia suspected Lord Maccon's handling was a tad more than was strictly called for under the circumstances, but she secretly enjoyed the sensation. After all, how often did a spinster of her shelf life get manhandled by an earl of Lord Maccon's peerage? She had better take advantage of the situation.”
• “She felt compelled to conclude that he was mortified to have kissed her in the first place and was hoping she would forget it ever happened. While knowing any well-bred lady would do simply that, Alexia had enjoyed the experience and did not feel like behaving properly over it. Still, she must conclude that all agreeable sensations were entirely one-sided, and now Lord Maccon felt nothing more than a palpable wish never to see her again. He would treat her with painful correctness in the meantime.”
• “That woman," Lord Maccon spat, 'is definitely alpha and most certainly female.”
• “Alexia blinked stupidly at the Beta from around the earl’s upper arm. Her heart was doing crazy things, and she still could not locate her kneecaps. She took a deep breath and put some serious attention into tracking them down.”

• "'My father,' she admitted, 'was of Italian extraction. Unfortunately, not an affliction that can be cured.' She paused. 'Though he did die.'"
• "As far as she was concerned, it was one thing to have wealth and quite another to know how to show it off properly."
• “Strange place, that overseas land, where religion and wealth did the talking and history and age held so little sway.”
• “Cats were not, in her experience, an animal with much soul. Prosaic, practical little creatures as a general rule. It would suit her very well to be thought catlike.”
• “Why, if you were not interested in me as anything more than a"-she stumbled, trying to find the right terminology-"momentary plaything, you might at least have just told me outright afterward." She crossed her arms and sneered at him. "Why didn't you? You think I was not strong enough to take it without causing a scene? I assure you, no one is better used to rejection than I, my lord. I think it very churlish of you not to inform me to my face that your breach in manners was an unfortunate impulse of the moment. I deserve some respect. We have known each other long enough for that at the very least.”
• “Uh, my lord, I am not actually food. You do realize this, yes?” 
• “What the hell is that?" yelled Lord Maccon. He had turned to anger so swiftly; Alexia could only stare at him, speechless. She let out her pent-up breath in a whoosh. Her heart was beating a marathon somewhere in the region of her throat, her skin felt hot and stretched taut over her bones, and she was damp in places she was tolerably certain unmarried gentlewomen were not supposed to be damp in. Lord Maccon was glaring at her coffee-colored skin, discolored between the neck and shoulder region by an ugly purple mark, the size and shape of a man's teeth. "That is a bite mark, my lord," she said. Lord Maccon was ever more enraged. "Who bit you?" he roared. Alexia tilted her head to one side in amazement. "You did." She was then treated to the spectacle of an Alpha werewolf looking downright hangdog. 'I did?' She raised both eyebrows at him. 'I did.'"
• “'Conall.'  'Aye, Alexia?' He looked up at her. Was that fear in his caramel eyes?  'I am going to take advantage of you,' she said.”
• "My dear Miss Tarabotti, you are nothing if not resilient."
• “These feelings you engender in me, my lord, are most indelicate. You should stop causing them immediately.”
• “She investigated further: moving along with little kisses down his throat and over his collarbone until she came to the same location on his neck that on hers was currently a decorative black and blue color. She bit him. Hard. Alexia never did anything by halves.”
• “Very well, Lord Maccon. If we are going to play this particular hand, would you be interested in becoming my...” Miss Tarabotti scrabbled for the right world. What does one properly call a male lover?? She shrugged and grinned. “Mistress?”
• "Prone to willful and problematic lives, the Tarabottis."
• “She filed the image away as an excellent and insulting question to ask the earl at an utterly inappropriate future moment.” (Soulless, Chapter Nine)
• “The sign above the door to the Hypocras Club read PROTEGO RES PUBLICA, engraved into white Italian marble. Miss Alexia Tarabotti, gagged, trussed, bound, and carried by two men—one holding her shoulders, the other her feet—read the words upside down. She had a screaming headache, and it took her a moment to translate the phrase through the nauseating aftereffects of chloroform exposure. Finally she deduced its meaning: to protect the commonwealth. Huh, she thought. I do not buy it. I definitely do not feel protected.”
• “How did that saying go? Alexia wondered. Ah, yes, 'Brash as an American.' Well, they had won their independence somehow, and it was not with politeness.”
• “Great, Alexia thought, I have gone from soul sucker to electrical ground. The epithets just get sweeter and sweeter.”
• “She shifted, sighed, and stared up at the ceiling, trying to think about anything but Lord Maccoon, her current predicament, or Lord Akeldama's safety. Which meant she could do nothing but reflect on the complex plight of her mama's more recent embroidery project. This, in itself, was a worse torture than any her captors could devise.”
• “Lord Maccon asked meekly, shifting against her in a manner that ensured she realized the nibbling had affected his outsides just as much as her insides. Alexia was partly shocked, partly intrigued by the idea that as he was naked, she might actually get to see what he looked like. She had seen sketches of the nude male, of course, for purely technical purposes. She was given to wonder if werewolves were anatomically bigger in certain areas.”
• “'I am beginning to understand,' she said in a quiet, deadly voice, 'who is the monster. What you are doing is farther from natural than vampires or werewolves could ever get. You are profaning creation, not only with this'—she gestured rudely with her thumb at the automaton holding her tightly—'but with that.' She pointed to the machine with its suckerlike metal tubes reaching hungrily inside the body of her dear friend. The horrible contraption seemed to be drinking him dry, more hungry for blood than any vampire she had ever seen. 'It is you, Mr. Siemons, who is the abomination.'”
• “No one ever explained the octopuses.”
• “'Ooo,' said Alexia, fascinated, 'it shrinks back down again. The books didn't detail that occurrence.' The earl laughed. 'You must show me these books of yours.'”
• “There was, currently, far more hairy masculinity in her life than any Englishwoman should really have to put up with on a monthly basis. That said, half the pack was away fighting in northern India; someday there would be even more full-moon maleness. She thought of her husband; him she had to deal with on a daily basis.” (Changeless, Chapter One)
• “Alexia gave in to his demanding touch, but only, of course, because he sounded so pathetic. It had nothing, whatsoever to do with her own quickening heartbeat.” (Changeless, Chapter Three)
• “Lady Maccon declined in horror. She enjoyed most foods, but brussels sprouts were nothing more than underdeveloped cabbages.” (Changeless, Chapter Three)
• “Lady Maccon wondered if she had ever been so foolish over Lord Maccon. Then she recalled that her affection generally took the form of threats and verbal barbs. She gave herself a pat on the back for avoiding sentimentality.” (Changeless, Chapter Four)
• “It was a constant source of amazement to Alexia that the only thing she had ever done in her entire life that pleased her mama was marry a werewolf.” (Changeless, Chapter Five)
• “Perhaps to the north? I hear Scotland is lovely this time of year.' 'Are you barmy? Scotland is wholly abysmal this time of year.” (Changeless, Chapter Five)
• “Yes, but look what a mess you have made of things prior to my arrival.' Lady Maccon was not to be dissuaded from her chosen course of action. 'Someone has to tell Conall that Kingair is to blame.' 'If none of them are changing, he’ll find out as soon as he arrives. His lordship would not like you following him.' 'His lordship can eat my fat—' Lady Maccon paused, thought the better of her crass words, and said, '—does not have to like it. Nor do you. The fact remains that this morning Floote will secure for me passage on the afternoon’s dirigible to Glasgow. His lordship can take it up with me when I arrive." (Changeless, Chapter Five)
• “'Well, I am terribly concerned for your health. One simply should not weigh so much at your age.' Lady Maccon poked at a sagging carrot and wondered if anyone would miss her dear sister were she to be oh-so-gently tipped over the rail of the upper deck.” (Changeless, Chapter Six)
• “Really, Alexia, what could have possessed you to attach yourself to the side of the ship in such a juvenile fashion? It is positively barnacle-like.” (Changeless, Chapter Seven)
• “Alexia wondered what it said about her character that Ivy had genuinely believed she would intentionally go climbing about the side of a floating dirigible.” (Changeless, Chapter Seven)
• “Alexia was rather strapping. He preferred her that way. Undersized women reminded him of yippy dogs.” (Changeless, Chapter Eight)
• “There is an art to irritation that only few of us can achieve.” (Changeless, Chapter Eight)
• “Do not trouble me with such weak excuses.” (Changeless, Chapter Nine)
• “Ah, Lady Maccon, how lovely. I did wonder when you would track us down.” “I was unavoidably delayed by husbands and Ivys,” explained Alexia. “These things, regrettably, are bound to occur when one is married and befriended.” (Changeless, Chapter Ten)
• “Lady Maccon stopped suddenly. Her husband got four long strides ahead before he realized she had paused. She was starring thoughtfully up into the aether, twirling the deadly parasol about her head. 'I have just remembered something,' Alexia said when he returned to her side. 'Oh, that explains everything. How foolish of me to think you could walk and remember at the same time.'” (Changeless, Chapter Eleven)
• “'My sister is a woman of mean understanding,' explained Lady Maccon apologetically. 'And what are you?' asked Sidheag. 'Oh, I am simply mean.'” (Changeless, Chapter Eleven)
• “We really must work on our communication. Perhaps if you were not so constantly interested in other forms of intimacy, I might actually have access to the information I need to survive with my temper intact!' Alexia poked at him with a sharp finger. 'More talk, less bed sport.” (Changeless, Chapter Thirteen)
• “He nuzzled in at her neck kissing and licking her softly just below her ear. 'Just a moment ' he said. 'I need a small reminder that you are here you are whole and you are mine.'” (Changeless, Chapter Fourteen)
• “'Why did you want to go and distract me like that? I was quite in my element and everything.' Conall laughed. 'Someone has to keep you off balance; otherwise you'll end up ruling the empire. Or at least ordering it into wretched submission.” (Changeless, Chapter Fourteen)
• “History wasn't precisely revered for its accuracy at the best of times.” (Blameless, Chapter One)
• "Professor Lyall had seen Lady Maccon's face when she returned home to pack up her clothing and quit Woolsey Castle. She wasn't big on crying - practical minded, tough, and unemotional even at the worst of times, like most preternaturals - but that didn't mean she wasn't utterly gutted by her husband's rejection. Professor Lyall had seen a number of things in his lifetime he hoped never to see again; that look of hopelessness in Alexia's dark eyes was definitely one of them." (Blameless, Chapter Two)
• “Someone was trying to kill Lady Alexia Maccon. It was most inconvenient, as she was in a dreadful hurry. Given her previous familiarity with near-death experiences and their comparative frequency with regards to her good self, Alexia should probably have allowed extra time for such a predictable happenstance.” (Blameless, Chapter Three)
• “She was no closer to determining who might want her dead. There were just too many possibilities.” (Blameless, Chapter Four)
• “Oh, do shove off, Lady Bling. I was thinking some rather important thoughts before you interrupted me.” (Blameless, Chapter Four)
• “Alexia found herself surrounded and embraced by a room of such unmitigated welcome and personality that it was akin to being yelled at by plum pudding.”  (Blameless, Chapter Six)
• “Alexia had, in part, compensated for a lack of soul through the liberal application of manners. This was rather like donning an outfit consisting entirely of accessories, but Alexia maintained that proper conduct was never a bad thing.” (Blameless, Chapter Seven)
• “Well, if I must, fine. I’ll guard the retreat,' said Alexia. 'Buy us some time.' 'What, in a clock shop?' Madame Lefoux clearly couldn't resist." (Blameless, Chapter Seven)
• “It had taken her a good deal of time before she believed that she was worth all that fierce affection he lavished upon her. To have it stolen away unjustly was that much more cruel.” (Blameless, Chapter Eight)
• “Alexia sighed. 'It is times like this I wish I could talk to my mother.' 'Good gracious, what good would that do, madam?' Floote was moved to speak by the outrageousness of Alexia's statement. 'Well, whatever she said, I could simply take the opposite point of view.'” (Blameless, Chapter Eight)
• “Alexia found her voice. 'Couldn't I just whack him once? Just a little one, over the head? He would hardly notice.'” (Blameless, Chapter Eight)
• “Most girls recently out of finishing school are like soufflés: puffed up, not very substantial inside, and prone to collapsing at the slightest provocation.” (Blameless, Chapter Eleven)
• “Floote, what is going on? Do they think I am contagious? Should I assure them I was born with a nose this size?” (Blameless, Chapter Ten)
• “'Pesto, madam.' 'Yes, Floote, that! Brilliant. Full of garlic.' To illustrate her point, she took another mouthful before continuing. 'Seems they put garlic in positively everything here. Absolutely fantastic.'” (Blameless, Chapter Eleven)
• “So this pesto I enjoy so much is really an infamous Italian antisupernatural weapon?” (Blameless, Chapter Eleven)
• “Alexia seemed to recall hearing one matron complain that the Italians were very passionate in their support of balls.” (Blameless, Chapter Eleven)
• “Too many things were going on in her head at once, and it was causing her eyes to leak.” (Blameless, Chapter Eleven)
• “The door was locked and Alexia, resourceful as she was, had not yet learned to pick locks. Though she mentally added it to her list of useful skills she needed to acquire along with hand-to-hand combat and the recipe for pesto. If her life were to continue on its present track which after 26 years of obscurity, now seemed to mainly involve people trying to kill her, it would appear that acquiring a less savory skill set might be necessary. Although she supposed pesto making ought to be termed 'more savory'.” (Blameless, Chapter Eleven)
• “'Your father, madam, was fully cremated. I made absolutely certain.' Alexia swallowed silently and then said fervently, 'Thank you, Floote.'”  (Blameless, Chapter Eleven)
• "Well, my mama always said, one should do what one is best at on as large a scale as possible." (Blameless, Chapter Thirteen)
• "She decided she'd been living too long with a werewolf pack if she could recognize him as a wolf in the middle of a battle when earlier, as the masked gentlemen, she had not been able to place him at all." (Blameless, Chapter Thirteen)
• “Only in a library did she feel completely capable of collecting her finer feelings and recuperating from such a wearying day.” (Blameless, Chapter Fourteen)
• “Could that technique, she wondered, be legitimately referred to as a “parassault”?” (Blameless, Chapter Fifteen)
• “'I mean to say, really, I am near to developing a neurosis - is there anyone around who doesn't want to study or kill me?' Floote raised a tentative hand. 'Ah, yes, thank you, Floote.' 'There is also Mrs Tunstell, madam,' he offered hopefully, is if Ivy were some kind of consolation prize. 'I notice you don't mention my fair-weather husband.' 'I suspect, at this moment, madam, he probably wants to kill you.' Alexia couldn't help smiling. 'Good point.'” (Blameless, Chapter Fifteen)
• “How was I to know idiocy was only a temporary condition, especially in your case? It never has been before!” (Blameless, Chapter Sixteen)
• “It looks like you managed to build your own pack, anyway, my dear. A parasol protectorate, perhaps one might say.” (Blameless, Chapter Sixteen)

• “Felicity would have continued but Lady Maccon lost her patience, a thing she was all too prone to misplacing.” (Heartless, Chapter Two)
• “Alexia had found pregnancy relatively manageable, up to a point. That point having been some three weeks ago, at which juncture her natural reserves of control gave way to sentimentality. Only yesterday she had ended breakfast sobbing over the fried eggs because they looked at her funny. The pack had spent a good half hour trying to find a way to pacify her. Her husband was so worried he looked to start crying himself.” (Heartless, Chapter Two)
• “At such close range, even she could hit a vampire full force in the shoulder, surprising him considerably. He paused in his attack. 'Well, my word! You can’t threaten me, you’re pregnant!'” (Heartless, Chapter Two)
• “I am entirely capable." "Of what, waddling up to someone and ruthlessly bumping into them?”  (Heartless, Chapter Three)
• “...you have been fraternizing with werewolves overmuch! Military men can be terribly bad for one's verbal concatenation!” (Heartless, Chapter Six)
• “She was pleased her husband still thought her attractive, despite her beached-whale state, but was finding it increasingly awkward to accommodate him. The spirit was willing but the flesh was swollen. Still, she enjoyed the compliment and understood that there was no real demand behind the caresses. The earl knew her well enough to realize she valued his desire almost as much as his love. After a lifetime of feeling ugly and unworthy, Alexia was now tolerably assured that Conall genuinely did want her, even if they could do nothing about it at present. She also understood that he was expressing his conjugal interest partly out of knowledge of her own need for such assurances. A werewolf and a buffoon, her husband, but wonderfully caring once he'd blundered into the way of it.”  (Heartless, Chapter Six)
• “Death can be jolly well inconvenient, if you ask me.” (Heartless, Chapter Nine)
• “As with most things in life, Lady Maccon preferred the civilized exterior to the dark underbelly (with the exception of pork products, of course.)” (Heartless, Chapter Eleven)
• “Follow that porcupine!” (Heartless, Chapter Eleven)
• “The Pantechnicon stored and distributed a good deal of furniture as well. The very idea of a lady of good breeding visiting such a place. There would be tables lying about, on their sides, naked! Not to mention flaccid dirigibles! Alexia shuddered at the very idea.” (Heartless, Chapter Twelve)
• “Lady Maccon.” “By George, Boots! How the deuce can you possibly tell that there is Lady Maccon?” queried the other top-hated gentleman. “Who else would be standing in the middle of a street on full-moon night with a raging ruddy fire behind her, waving a parasol about?” “Good point, good point.” (Heartless, Chapter Thirteen)
• “Shame on you! Bad vampire.” (Heartless, Chapter Thirteen)
• “Which was why, some six hours later, Alexia Maccon's daughter was born inside the head of an octomaton in the presence of her husband, a comatose werewolf dandy, and a French inventor.” (Heartless, Chapter Sixteen)
• “Later on Lady Maccon was to describe that particular day as the worst of her life. She had neither the soul nor the romanticism to consider childbirth magical or emotionally transporting. So far as she could gather it mostly involved pain indignity and mess. There was nothing engaging or appealing about the process. And as she told her husband firmly she intended never to go through it again.” (Heartless, Chapter Seventeen)
• “You know vampires and solicitors—practically indistinguishable.” (Heartless, Chapter Seventeen)
• “Are you certain they will manage without me?' 'We will be back in only a few hours. How bad can it get?' 'Don’t tempt fate, my love.” (Timeless, Chapter One)
• “Alexia abhorred hypocrisy, especially when munitions were involved.” (Timeless, Chapter Three)
• “She took a moment to lament her lack of parasol. Every time she left the house, she felt keenly the absence of her heretofore ubiquitous accessory.” (Timeless, Chapter Three)
• “Scotsmen, she had occasion to observe, often did have nice knees. Perhaps that was why they insisted upon kilts.” (Timeless, Chapter Three)

• "My dearest love, I hate it when you come over mysterious. It indicates that I will be made uncomfortable by the results." (Timeless, Chapter Five)
• "She found her husband's touch as necessary to her daily routine as tea. Possibly more difficult to give up." (Timeless, Chapter Five)
• “Oh, my giddy aunt!” (Timeless, Chapter Six)
• "Alexia was enough her father's daughter to relax some standards of propriety so long as scientific inquiry was the results." (Timeless, Chapter Seven)
• “Alexia was not a particularly musical person, and her husband, a noted opera singer in his human days, had once described her bath time warbling as those of a deranged badger.” (Timeless, Chapter Twelve)
• "Why does my father always have to be so difficult? He's dead after all. Couldn't he have left it at that?" (Timeless, Chapter Sixteen)
• “She felt, in fact, very absent from herself. Adrift, as if nothing might bring her back again. Not even tea.” (Timeless. Chapter Eighteen)
• "A new queen, plus five Egyptian vampires and assorted drones? You object to my bringing souvenirs back from Egypt? Everyone brings back souvenirs from their travels abroad, my lord. It is the done thing. (Timeless, Chapter Twenty)
• "Lady Maccon was a substantial female. everything about her was in excess - from bosom to nose to voice. And she was forthright about all of it, particularly the bosom. The combination was more than the drawing room could easily contain (although it was a large drawing room). She was also sufficiently rich and titled to say what she thought without consequence." (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Four)
• “You are gloriously robust, Alexia. In a contest of wills between you and a steam engine, I should not wager on the steam engine.” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Four)
• “Now, now, now, Countess. That is my indenture. If you wish to have your house cleaned, I should be happy to do it for you.” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Nine)
• “No, we don’t have any poetry, dear, can’t see the use in it, myself.” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Nine)
• “I’m sure you’re accustomed to my forthright ways by now.’ Imogene thought Lady Maccon was being kind to herself. Unless by forthright she meant blunt to the point of rudeness. But she was also a gracious hostess.” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Nine)
• “Impossible is my specialty.” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Nine)
• “Everything seemed so practical and easy to solve, when Lady Maccon was quizzing it.” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Nine)
• “Conall’s impossible but highly stimulating, and I’ve never felt anything lacking in the rough-and-tumble. It’s only that I’m one of those people who, at the dinner table, wants to try all the dishes.” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Nine)
• “Biffy! Interiors are afoot! Oh where is that boy? Biffy, I need you to *design* something for me!” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Nine)
• “She’d apparently arranged everything with the hive, swinging her muhjah power about like a very big stick (or should one say parasol?).” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Ten)
• “She’s kind of like an odd, loud, fierce fairy godmother, isn’t she?” (Romancing the Inventor, Chapter Ten)
• "Rue's mother was a veritable battle-axe, boasting a shape not unlike that of a tragic soprano in a Germanic opera, only with less inclination to throw herself off bridges. In fact, she was not overly demonstrative about anything, least of all bridges." (Prudence, Chapter Two)
• "I did hear this wild rumour about a werewolf in bloomers. And I thought to myself, here now, none of my dear husband's pack are that experimental." (Prudence, Chapter Two)
• "It was this skill that made her soulless, and made most vampires loathe her upon the very realization of her preternatural state. Of course, once her personality asserted itself, vampires tended to loathe Rue's mother for her own sake." (Prudence, Chapter Two)
• "Really, Mother, I had no idea you were so reckless. You seem so very staid.' 'I'll have you know, infant, I was a madcap adventurer of epic proportions. Not that you should take that as permission, mind you." (Prudence, Chapter Two)
• "Suffice to say that, on those occasions when Lord and Lady Maccon argued most virulently, a pattern inevitably emerged. They disappeared to their private quarters in disagreement and re-appeared in accord, generally to Mother's way of thinking. Rue's mother was fond of saying, 'I am always right. Sometimes, it simply takes him a little time, flat on his back, to realise this." (Prudence, Chapter Two)
• Lady Maccon was difficult. She couldn’t be managed or charmed. She wouldn’t be moved once she made up her mind. She was as tough as old boot leather and as inevitable as clotted cream when scones were in the offing.” (Imprudence, Chapter One)
• “If she’s been holding Paw back from insanity, she’s had to stay touching him, flesh to flesh, whenever they were both awake. Rue had never once doubted her parents adored one another, but act kind of thing would strain any marriage.” (Imprudence, Chapter Four)
• “My but I forgot how much fun adventuring was.” (Imprudence, Chapter Five)
• “Infant, do you require’ - she paused as though unsure of the right word - ‘comfort?” (Imprudence, Chapter Six)
• “Lady Maccon had been accused of many things, but being a feeble eater wasn’t one of them.” (Imprudence, Chapter Eight)
• “Lady Maccon marched around sticking her generous nose into anything in which i might be stuck.” (Imprudence, Chapter Eight)
• “Feelings,’ Mother was prone to saying, ‘are meant to be felt and not discussed.” (Imprudence, Chapter Ten)
• “Lady Maccon was at her best when not confused.” (Imprudence, Chapter Ten)
• “It would suit her mother to have something to do under the desert skies. Otherwise she might end up Queen of Sheba or on a mission to save the local crocodiles form embankment, or whatnot.” (Imprudence, Chapter Eleven)
• "My mother would spin the world faster, if she felt it more efficient." (Competence, Chapter Four)
• "Lacy Maccon was a lot ot look after, and not the type of female to brook other ladies in her domain." (Romancing the Werewolf, Chapter Three)