Of Darkness and Light (The Bound and the Broken, #2)

by Ryan Cahill

“He is gone, but that does not mean I will not carry him with me for the rest of my life. When my brother, Haem, was taken from us, my mother told me and Calen that ‘we honour the dead not by how we mourn their death, but by how we live on despite it.’”

”Asius,” Therin said as the giant made to leave, “if you do have difficulty with the Fenryr, tell them that the son of the Chainbreaker is lost, and he needs them.”

“There are demons within us all that we must face. They only ever surface when we are at our lowest because they are not strong enough to challenge us at our highest. Now, drink. We will rest here for a while, I think.”

“Besides, there is nothing more important in the darkness than a ray of light.”

“It is true, brother. Books are not a complete history. They are only the history people chose to record.”

“There is not a soul in this world who does not feel the push and pull of pride. Damage it, and you can make an enemy for life. Keep it intact, and you may find allies in the strangest of places.”

“The sun will set, and it will rise again, and it will do so the next day and the next. The gods are in charge of such things, but it is by our own will that we pick ourselves up when we fall.”

“More men, women, elves, and dwarves will die in what is to come. It is the way of things. We are born, we live, and we die. Those three things cannot be changed. The only thing within our control is what we choose to do with the short time we have – the things we fight for, the people we love, the things we hold dear. Good men stand even when it is against all odds. They were, each of them, good men.”

People tended to fear what they didn’t understand, and fear was a good friend of hate.

“You are better than this. I’ve seen it. I’m standing here with you because you are better than this. Tonight, those men and women are not empire soldiers. They are not those who did us harm. They are just people. People who don’t want to die. And they need us. They need you. They need a Draleid.”

The light was their bond – Valerys’s soul entwined with his. He knew it to be true. “Myia nithír til diar, Valerys.”

“But we bear it with smiles on our faces, for our brothers and sisters fight by our side. There are men and women on the other side of the Rift who need us. Their lives hang on the tip of our courage. And in that, I do not mean you cannot hold fear in your hearts, for courage is not the absence of fear. It is the will to act in spite of fear.”