Wintersong

❝'I am the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground,' he said, mismatched eyes glinting. 'I am wildness and madness made flesh. You’re just a girl'—he smiled, and the tips of his teeth were sharp—'and I am the wolf in the woods.'❞

❝'I am the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground,' he said, mismatched eyes glinting. 'I am wildness and madness made flesh. You’re just a girl'—he smiled, and the tips of his teeth were sharp—'and I am the wolf in the woods.'❞

“Winter turned to spring, spring to summer, summer into autumn, autumn back into winter, but each turning of the year grew harder and harder as the little girl grew up while the Goblin King remained the same. She washed the dishes, cleaned the floors, brushed her sister’s hair, soothed her brother’s fears, hid her father’s purse, counted the coins, and no long

“Winter turned to spring, spring to summer, summer into autumn, autumn back into winter, but each turning of the year grew harder and harder as the little girl grew up while the Goblin King remained the same. She washed the dishes, cleaned the floors, brushed her sister’s hair, soothed her brother’s fears, hid her father’s purse, counted the coins, and no longer went into the woods to see her old friend.”

“Käthe made a face. “It’s always about Josef with you. Don’t you have any dreams of your own?”
I did. They were locked up in a box, safe and sound beneath the bed we shared, never to be seen, never to be heard.”

“Tsk, tsk.” The Goblin King waved one long, slender finger at me. “I had thought you a worthy opponent. We were playing a game, Fräulein, but you don’t seem much inclined to engage me.”

“Liesl,” Josef said again. “I’m so very glad you’re safe. But I must ask you: who have you been searching for? (view spoiler)[None of us understand what you’ve been talking about. Who, my dear, is Käthe?” (hide spoiler)]

“And what had I done with the Goblin King’s gift? I had taken it and hidden it away, like it was something secret, something shameful. Perhaps my lack of faith had cost me everything after all.”

“So I tried my best to stifle hope. Because hope’s twin was despair, and despair was infinitely worse. If hope hurt, then despair was the absence of hurt. It was the absence of feeling. It was the absence of caring.
I wanted very much to care.”

“I am Elisabeth,” I said. “But Elisabeth is only a name. An empty word I fill with myself. But you had a word once; I see the echoes of it within you.”

"Now the days of winter begin, and the Goblin King rides abroad, searching for his bride."

"I could hurt you," the Goblin King said, and I felt that promise in his hands. My lifeblood in his grip, my throat bared t

"Now the days of winter begin, and the Goblin King rides abroad, searching for his bride."

"I could hurt you," the Goblin King said, and I felt that promise in his hands. My lifeblood in his grip, my throat bared to him in submission."

"Because a man could spend a age--and believe me, I have--with an endless line of beautiful brides, their names and faces blurring before him. Because you--queer, unlovely you--I would remember."