The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War, #2)

by T. Kingfisher

Nineteen, thought Slate wearily. Nineteen and realizing that you don’t have all the answers and sometimes there aren’t any good answers at all.

“Love, huh?” she said. “Utterly. Profoundly. Would you like to send me off to kill a dragon or something to prove it, like in a ballad?” “What the hell would that prove?” “I suppose it would prove that I could kill a dragon. I’m not sure why that would be a good thing. They never cover that bit in ballads.”