The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

by Samantha Shannon

Art. Art is not one great act of creation, but many small ones. When you read one of my poems, you fail to see the weeks of careful work it took me to build it—the thinking, the scratched-out words, the pages I burned in disgust. All you see, in the end, is what I want you to see. Such is politics.”

“Ah, yes. A mysterious figure. It was said she had ambitions to bring the whole East under the rule of the Rainbow Throne. That her face was so lovely that every butterfly wept in envy.” His smile dimpled his cheeks. “When history fails to shed light on the truth, myth creates its own.”