Thorn (Dauntless Path, #1)

by Intisar Khanani

This is how you survive: one breath to the next, refusing each thought as it comes to you.

I listen to the patter of their conversation. Their words are quick, accompanied by frequent laughs and lasting smiles. It is enough to make me want to shout—what use was my studying courtly phrases? Why couldn’t my tutors teach me the language of living and laughing?

We all need our quiet. We all have our unspoken sorrows, hopes we cannot mention, choices we may yet regret.

This is the life I’ve made for myself, and I want it in a way I haven’t wanted anything else I can remember. It is a wanting that is quiet, and steady, and deep as the beat of my heart.

Of all the ways I could die that I meet with every day, I would much rather die from helping someone.

“Justice is not men beating each other up,” Sage says quietly. “Justice is teaching men that there is a law and, if they don’t abide by it, there is an established punishment.”

“I’ve found that acting when you are afraid is the greatest sign of courage there is.”

“It may not be pretty, but sometimes justice has to be hard to keep the rest of us straight and safe.”