Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

by Brandon Sanderson

“My father,” Adolin said with a grunt, sweat from his nose dripping down onto the blade of the knife, “thinks I’m a better man than he is.” He strained, and felt Sadeas’s grip weaken. “Unfortunately for you, he’s wrong.” Sadeas whimpered. With a surge, Adolin forced the blade up past Sadeas’s nose and into the eye socket—piercing the eye like a ripe berry—then rammed it home into the brain. Sadeas shook for a moment, blood pooling around the blade as Adolin worked it to be certain. A second later, a Shardblade appeared beside Sadeas—his father’s Shardblade. Sadeas was dead.

“And we will save the ones we can,” Dalinar said. He turned to her. “Life before death, Radiant. It is the task to which we are now sworn.” She pursed her lips, still looking eastward, but nodded. “Life before death, Radiant.”

“Expectation. That is the true soul of art. If you can give a man more than he expects, then he will laud you his entire life. If you can create an air of anticipation and feed it properly, you will succeed.