The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)

by Sarah J. Maas

“If Arobynn Hamel is telling the story, then yes, I suppose I did deserve it. I cost him a good deal of money—a kingdom’s worth of riches, probably. I was disobedient and disrespectful, and completely remorseless about what I did.”

“Because the stag remains constant—no matter the season, he’s always there.”

“So the people of Terrasen will always know how to find their way home. So they can look up at the sky, no matter where they are, and know Terrasen is forever with them.”

Celaena lowered her bow and watched until Ansel disappeared beyond the horizon. One arrow, that had been her promise. But she’d also promised Ansel that she had twenty minutes to get out of range. Celaena had fired after twenty-one.

“If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it—to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger. But Ansel let her pain become hate, and let it consume her until she became something else entirely—a person I don’t think she ever wished to be.”

And she was not afraid.

My name is Sam Cortland … and I will not be afraid.

“My name is Celaena Sardothien, and I will not be afraid.”