To Kill a Kingdom (Hundred Kingdoms, #1)

by Alexandra Christo

Our awfulness is treasured. Friendship and kinship taught to be as foreign as land. Loyalty reserved only for the Sea Queen.

That’s not untrue, but where there are princes, there are kings and queens, and I’ve never had much use for either of those. Rulers are easily deposed. It’s the princes who hold the allure. In their youth. In the allegiance of their people. In the promise of the leader they could one day become. They are the next generation of rulers, and by killing them, I kill the future. Just as my mother taught me.

A lot of countries did it—small tokens that we never had much use for—but it was different for Cristian. He relied solely on scarce crops and loans from other kingdoms just to survive. Every gift he gave was a sacrifice.

“Is this about Cristian?” my father asks. “No.” “Lies aren’t answers.” “But they sound so much better than the truth.”

“Homes are hard to find.” I think about the truth of that. I understand it better than anyone, because nowhere I’ve traveled ever really feels like home.

Elian smirks at her insubordination. Everything is a game to him. Loyalty is mockery and devotion is kinship in place of fear. He is a riddle, disguised as a ruler, able to laugh at the idea of disloyalty as though it would never be an option. I can’t fathom such a thing.

Hearts are forever scarred by our true nature.

“Wars aren’t won by running,” she says. “You can’t win a war,” I tell her. “Someone else just loses.”

Some people burn so brightly, it’s impossible to put the flames out. Thankfully, that’s just what I need.

Love and madness are two stars in the same sky. You cannot build a roof to keep out last year’s rain.

If your only instrument is a sword, then you will always strike at your problems.

It feels like the worst thing I’ve ever done and the best thing I could ever do and how strange that the two are suddenly the same. How strange that instead of taking his heart, I’m hoping he takes mine.

It’s like holding a story rather than a person; she feels wild and infinite in my arms.