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He made her think of a bird rather than a wraith: something cruel that waited. Like a carrion crow.
The city was like a spoiled egg, a thin shell of respectability barely containing the foulness inside.
Clare: you’re born with your blood, but you earn the dust on your shoes. Judge a lie by the fruit it bears, but don’t judge a man in a box for not noticing the stars. Rain falls where it will; keeping out of it is up to you. Have patience with drunks and little children, for we’ve all been one and we could easily end up the other.
She was not human. She was pain in the shape of a human. She glittered like fire. She burned.
“My mother used to say: when you look into the night, count all the stars you can.” “Does that mean something?” Gavin said rudely. “That no single good act will ever be enough, but every good act is important,” the magus replied. “I
“I think marriage should be abolished. No alliance marriages, no marriage-leaving tax. No way to keep anyone with you except by treating them well. No way to ensure trade but by being a good neighbor. Maybe when I’m Lady of the City—” words she’d said thousands of times, now filled with bitterness “—I’ll make it a law.”
“Because people aren’t like that,” Gavin said. “Offer them freedom on the condition that they take responsibility for using it wisely, and they’ll take the chains.”
She was like an unlit stove, except that she wasn’t even engaged enough to be cold. She was just—there. Inert.
the easiest way to control a populace is to keep them tired. Tired, hungry, drunk.
