How we cite our quotes: (Story.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Indeed, now Esmé was nearly grown, it was hard to tell them apart at a glance. They were so alike, and Mab was so young. They were both small and beautiful with long, long hair as red as persimmons. (3.1.2)
As Esmé grows older, she becomes increasingly like her mother in physical appearance, but less like her in other ways. For one thing, Esmé is starting to think for herself and to question the weird, isolated life that they lead. You go, girl.
Quote #5
Mab's accent was like spice, and out at the shops and the theaters, whenever she had to speak to men, they seemed to Esmé to want to taste the words right off her mother's lips. The way they looked at her! But the way Mab looked back could freeze the saliva in their mouths. There was no room in her life for men, or for anyone but Esmé. (3.1.3)
Mab is the kind of woman who turns heads when she enters a room, but she doesn't want that kind of power. Instead of basking in male attention, Mab tries to avoid it as much as possible. She's not interested in any paramours.
Quote #6
A few months ago when Esmé's bleeding had first come, her mother had turned pale and wept, so Esmé thought for a panicked moment that she must be dying, but Mab had explained in a rush that it meant she wasn't a child anymore. That she could breed. (3.1.36)
Mab definitely isn't the kind of mother who will throw a moon party for her daughter after she starts her period. Instead she freaks out because she equates the start of womanhood with danger. Can you blame her? The Druj Queen totally took over Mab's life—and her body—when she became a woman.