Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)

by Kristin Cashore

Every configuration of people is an entirely new universe unto itself.”

A man’s spirit might shiver unpleasantly around his body if he has been alone with horror and suffering for too long.

But it is just as important, she thought, to thaw these men who were frozen by my father, and to stand at their sides through the pain of their healing. How can I ever take care of so many men?

Maybe someday, they would feel more like a memory of pain than like pain itself.

My kingdom’s challenge, she thought, is to balance knowing with healing.