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Fear is a phoenix. Words Liliyana had spoken to her years ago and that Zoya had repeated to others many times. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return.
Nikolai had been told hope was dangerous, had been warned of it many times. But he’d never believed that. Hope was the wind that came from nowhere to fill your sails and carry you home.
“They’ve always liked us better dead,” she said. “No one knows what to do with a living Saint.”
its walls glinting with mica.
Always hit where the mark isn’t looking.
What’s the easiest way to steal a man’s wallet? Kaz Brekker had once explained. Tell him you’re going to steal his watch.
Elizaveta nodded. “Most women suffer thorns for the sake of the flowers. But we who would wield power adorn ourselves in flowers to hide the sting of our thorns.”
Be sweeter. Be gentler. Smile when you are suffering. Zoya had ignored these lessons, often to her detriment. She was all thorns.
“And still the wound bleeds,” said the dragon. “You will never be truly strong until it closes.” “I don’t want it to heal,” Zoya said angrily, her cheeks wet with tears. Below, she saw the version of Novokribirsk that existed in this twilight world, a black scar across the sands. “I need it.”
You and I are going to change the world, he’d told her.
Because you are strong enough to survive the fall.
‘Beware of power, Zoya. There is no amount of it that can make them love you.’”
Because Zoya was not kind and she was not easy. But she was already a queen.
Despise your heart. A Shu saying. Do what has to be done. He knew how he was supposed to reply, the way a Shu soldier would reply, maybe the way a king would reply: Niweh sesh. I have no heart. But the words that came to mind instead were of the “Kebben’a” and the first blossom’s fall.
“Stop punishing yourself for being someone with a heart. You cannot protect yourself from suffering. To live is to grieve. You are not protecting yourself by shutting yourself off from the world. You are limiting yourself, just as you did with your training.”
“Then long live the king.”
