Royal Assassin (The Farseer Trilogy, #2)

by Robin Hobb

I wince to think of the price willingly paid for loving me.

“Save speeches like that for when one of us is dying.

“I know you. You have hurt me, almost to death, but still I live. And I will go on living.”

To bond to any animal was to promise oneself that future pain.

We are as we do.

“Fitz? What will you do?” Tears stung my eyes. I blinked, and it passed. “What I am told,” I said heavily. “When have I ever done otherwise?”

“Are you sure, Fitz? Are you sure? What good is a life lived as if it made no difference at all to the great life of the world? A sadder thing I cannot imagine. Why should not a mother say to herself, if I raise this child aright, if I love and care for her, she shall live a life that brings joy to those about her, and thus I have changed the world? Why should not the farmer that plants a seed say to his neighbor, this seed I plant today will feed someone, and that is how I change the world today?”

“Keystone. Gate. Crossroads. Catalyst. All these you have been, and continue to be.

“We are here, Fitz, you and I, to change the future of the world. To reach out and hold in place the tiny pebble that could trigger the boulder’s tumbling.”

Wolves have no Kings.