Into the Narrowdark (Last King of Osten Ard #3)

by Tad Williams

With that return to awareness came something else: a memory of life and its unending, unendurable pain. And with that memory came horror.

“Find what is real,” Master Himano always said. “Then consider only that.”

Because she told the truth always. Rarest of blessings, rarest of sins.

“Gold has a way of making borders disappear,” said Aengas. “And it attracts all sorts of men. Like jackdaws, even the simplest minds like to see it shine.”

but news travels even on a moonless night,

I cannot forgive myself for growing old.”

she would not find true peace until she discovered what that grain of discomfort was.

And I still labor to fix all that I see in my memory, though it is likely no one will ever share it.