Eyes of the Void (The Final Architecture, #2)

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

go find the Architects’ weak point, Menheer. Find out what strings there are, that their masters pull.”

She nodded, too quickly, too forcefully, and he could see her eyes saying No. But despite this he believed her, because that duality was familiar to him. No, we never want to go, but we do it anyway.

a murderous dragon that was its own treasure.

“Rescuing,” Olli insisted. “With extreme prejudice.

Impossible” wasn’t what it used to be.

“Because we have to do these things, those of us who can. It’s my duty. It’s my responsibility. Because there’s no one else. And I hate it,

It was a terrible thing to look into the heart of your culture and know that you were intended for monstrosity and only an active devotion to the good of others would keep you from it, even when those others hated you.