Kingdoms and Chaos (King's Dark Tidings, #4)

by Kel Kade

“People often fear what they do not understand, and they tend to hate what they fear,”

power can be both a blessing and a curse—not in the bearing of it, but in the use.

who have done no wrong.” “Would you kill someone to prevent a terrible injustice that has not yet occurred but that you know will happen if you do nothing? Or will you allow it to happen and then punish others for the offense? If you know it is going to occur, are you not also culpable for doing nothing to prevent it?”

“When the Maker is silent, it is because the experience of making the choice is more important than the outcome.”

I do not have to possess a conscience to abide by one.

The mage’s faith, like that of his followers, was not a gift to be appreciated, but an assignment of duty to be fulfilled.

“Rezkin says it is important to recognize your followers’ strengths and capitalize on them. He says that I should not believe that I can or should do everything better than everyone else.”

He turned to Uthey. “How do you laugh?” Uthey gave him a strange look, so Tam nodded toward the slavers. “With all of this? With the hunger and beatings, with the chains and blisters, with no choices in your life, how do you laugh?” Uthey stared at the fire for a long time and finally said, “Every moment is a bubble of sorrow in my chest. The bubbles build up to weigh heavily on my heart. I must release them, or they will crush me from within.”

He said nothing, at first, only staring at her with eyes the color of the ocean far beyond the influence of land.

“I do not hate my enemies. I merely recognize the need for them to be silenced in whatever manner is fitting.”