Every Spiral of Fate (This Woven Kingdom, #4)

by Tahereh Mafi

Heaven help her, this man was her husband. Alizeh felt nearly ill with longing.

“My dear brothers and sisters,” she said again. “I should like you to know me. I should like us to know each other. I feel I should confess to you now that I am not immune to grief. I am not hardened against the casual cruelty of this world. Were you hoping for a toughened leader, I will be sorry to disappoint you. “I believe in the unfailing pursuit of justice,” she said, her voice rising. “The acquisition of which demands, without exception, the blood of tyrants. I am not afraid to kill my enemies. But I am neither indifferent to death nor am I eager to slaughter, for true justice requires the retention of compassion.” She paused. “Without it, carnage might be limitless; without it, wars would not find their finish; without it, we would not know how to revive ourselves in the wake of so much bloodshed.” Here, the soldiers began to stand taller. “I have willingly traded my shields for this tender flesh of humanity,” she cried, bringing her hand to her chest. “And for this sacrifice, I am pierced through the heart every day. Every day the blades of this world strike me unguarded, rend me to pieces. I wonder, always, how a body might sustain such brutalities. It is no less than a miracle that we bear witness to the unceasing savagery of injustice and still find the courage to smile. Some days I can’t breathe around the magnitude of this agony, and yet I do not pray for my pain to end, for I never wish to be deadened to the suffering of my people.” Now they began to stomp th...

she simply is that girl

“Is it not a small miracle to bear witness to such beauty?” “Yes,” he said, still staring at her.

“What do you mean it’s your smallest one?” Cyrus felt, suddenly, like he might be having an aneurysm. “Well, it’s only one room—” “You mean there’s only one bedroom,” said Alizeh, who was looking at Cyrus with alarm. “No, Your Majesty, I mean there’s only one room. But, like I said, it’s—”

Give the people what they want

“I will say this once, angel, for I feel you should be warned. No man alive has ever loved a woman the way that I love you, and I would rather die, damned as I am, than disgrace us both with the pitiful, unrequited performance of my heart.”

She’d inspired him to believe once more in the enduring magic of the human heart. She was living proof to him that darkness did not always prevail.

It was true that Alizeh’s heart was perhaps more tender than most. It was true that she cried too easily and felt too deeply. But too often her kindness was misunderstood. Always, she was underestimated.