Even if he could have said, to those who whispered, that he did not wish to be emperor--and he could say no such thing, trapped as he was behind Edrehasivar's mask--he would not have been believed. No one in the Untheileneise Court would ever believe that one could wish not to be emperor. It was unthinkable.

— The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (The Goblin Emperor, #1) (47%)