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“It’s not such a bad thing, to feel powerless sometimes. It teaches us that some situations are inevitable and that we should spend what little time we have in the company of the people that matter most.
“You talk like a recipe exists to accustom one to death,” I said, bitter. “Oh, but there is,” she responded. “Take a girl and remove her heart. Add a touch of tragedy and a thirst for vengeance. Divide her into equal parts of grief and rage, then serve her cold.
“That is the nature of grief. But to grieve means you have loved. To love opens up the possibility for grief. There cannot be one without the other.”
“Kings and emperors need the people more than the people need them, princess. Kings are kings only because one ancestor was quicker than another to place a crown on his own head. Bravery and courage are not passed down through blood. Kings and emperors do not require valor or good works; all they require is submission.”
“Patience is the long pause between action and its consequences. Lengthier silences open you up to introspection, and I’ve known a lot of solitude.”
“Books are only dangerous to those who keep their flock uneducated, Elder.
“With death shall come enlightenment. It is not Kance who you shall weep over, broken and bleeding. You shall weep once for regret and another for family, one more for mercy and two for love. You must tread on a path of dead, asha. Only then will you find your shadowglass.”
“Cities are the same the world over,” Councilor Ludvig said. “The greater the stench of the city’s poor, the more extravagant the lives of the city’s rich.”
“That’s my Tea!” Never had I ever seen Kalen laugh that long or that loud. He was nearly doubled over, one hand against the wall to hold himself up. But there was no derision in his heartsglass, none of the dry amusement usually on display. There was only pride—fierce, unabashed pride.
Morose as I was, I did love food.
“I’ve been in love with you,” he said quietly, “since we fought the azi by the lake.”
It purred again, and I felt its mind open to mine, inviting as, for the first time, a daeva bowed before a human master of its own free will.
“For the rest of your life, this is all you shall have of your lover: a vision of her as living carrion,” I whispered to him. “You will relive this moment in your mind for the rest of your days, and it will be all that you shall remember. Your lust for power blinded you, causing immeasurable pain to those you should have protected. Now you shall watch with open eyes and see.”
