Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)

by Kristin Cashore

I’m sorry it was the need to hide the marks of an attack that brought them to mind again, Lady Queen,” she added. “But that’s how memory works,” Bitterblue said quietly. “Things disappear without your permission, then come back again without your permission.” And sometimes they came back incomplete and warped. There was an aspect of memory that Bitterblue had been trying to come to terms with lately, one so hurtful that she had not managed yet to face it full on. Her memories of Ashen were a series of snippets. Many of them were moments that had transpired in Leck’s presence, which meant that Bitterblue had not even been in her right mind. When they’d been without Leck, they’d spent much of that time fighting Leck’s brain fog away. Leck hadn’t just stolen Ashen from Bitterblue by killing her. He’d stolen her before that, as well.