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“Life is small discomforts, girl! They’re how you know you are alive.”
Battles may sometimes be won by the brave, but wars are always won by the clever.
and angry men make mistakes.”
Rikke knew what folk said about her, and maybe her head didn’t have the right parts in the right places, but she’d always had a sharp eye for things. So in spite of the gloom and Isern’s nimble fingers, Rikke saw the hillwoman only ate half as much as she handed over. She saw it, and was thankful for it, and wished she had the bones to insist on fair shares, but she was just so damn hungry.
“Deserving won’t make much difference to an arrow. The best defence against arrows is not a life nobly lived but to be the one who shoots them, d’you see?”
“No justice, is there? For him or for me. Just a world that looks the other way and doesn’t care a shit about either one of us.”
“Guilt is a luxury reserved for those still breathing and with no unbearable pain, cold or hunger demanding all their fickle attention. Long as guilt’s your big problem, girl…” Rikke saw the faint gleam of Isern’s teeth in the gathering darkness. “Things can’t be that bad.”
There were too many bad men in the North and Caul Shivers, by most accounts, was one of the very worst. Bad men are a terrible curse, no doubt, right up until you’re in bad trouble and there’s one on your side. Then they’re the best thing ever.
Seemed every word between them had an edge to it. A little danger, like the jabs in a duel. A little thrill, like each breath was a gamble.
Nothing like being wanted, is there? Wanted by someone you want. Always seems like magic, that something can feel so good but cost nothing.
She could kidnap a conversation and in a breath carry it off into strange territory. You never knew where you’d end up, but it was always honest.
“Well, you have to be realistic.
He blew a sigh from puffed cheeks, itchy with the beginnings of a beard he hoped might look military but suspected would prove to be another of his many mistakes.
“You speak more like an accountant than a wizard.” “A sign of the times, Your Highness.”
“I never saw more harm done than by the heroes who couldn’t wait to get started.”
“Knowledge isn’t always a gift, d’you see? Sometimes it’s better we be swaddled in the comforting darkness of ignorance.”
The waiting, the waiting, the endless bloody waiting. He really was the worst man in the world at doing nothing.
Always the ones quickest to insults got the thinnest skin, for some reason.
Vengeance is just an empty chest you choose to carry.
All he could think was that deserving’s got nothing to do with anything. Life just falls on you, like rain.
