Beautiful
In their ignorance the Tortallans praise her beauty. Exotic, peerless, skin like ivory, lips like red roses, hair silken and sable.
Thayet knows better. Her father's courtiers found fault with her dark skin, her tilted eyes, her full lips. Half-breed and barbarian were the kinder names they used. Her mother's people loved her for Kalasin's sake, though in their eyes she was too tall, her bones too slender and sharp, her light skin like that of the hated Lowland oppressors.
Thayet almost laughs in dismay when the eager Tortallans call her the most beautiful woman in the world.
(The most beautiful woman in the world is dead.)
But when Jon smiles at her and says, My beautiful wife, warm and intimate, Thayet lets herself believe that it is true.