Caliban's War (Expanse, #2)

by James S.A. Corey

A small house is a deeper kind of luxury,” her husband said. “To live in a space entirely our own, to remember the simple pleasures of baking bread and washing our own dishes. This is what your friends in high places forget. It makes them less human.”

It was intentional and inhuman. It was like seeing the face of God and finding no compassion there.

“Fear doesn’t make you a coward.” “No,” he said. “Of course it doesn’t. But refusing to face up to it. To not admit to you how I felt. To not let you and Alex and Amos help me. That was cowardice. And it may have cost me you, the crew’s loyalty, everything I really care about. It made me keep a bad job a lot longer than I should have because the job was safe.”

It had been a failure, but it was a failure he understood, and that made it a victory.

Time took her strength but it gave her power in exchange. It was a fair trade.