A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty (Kingdom of Lies, #2)

by Stacia Stark

“When it comes to your survival, you cheat,” he snarled. “You cheat and you lie. You fight dirty. And you do whatever else it takes to stay alive.” “Even with you?” “Even with me. You can work with Galon on your physical training. Your aunt can help you with your power. But when you train with me, you use both together.”

“The way someone worships their gods—and the gods they choose to worship—is a personal choice for most. But a clever ruler will use religion to play on their emotions. Their desires. And their fears. They will promise either eternal happiness or the avoidance of suffering—here or in the afterlife. You will find it is surprisingly easy for someone to use a population’s fear of the unknown—and their poor education—to control them with lies.”

“No. Because I want to gut anyone who made you cry. And I don’t want to have to impale myself on my own sword.”

“I think the true measure of someone is not how much power they have, but how they choose to wield that power. You choose not to make anyone feel the way you felt. If you’d been a small person, you could have lashed out. You could have used your power on them and then left.”