The Queen with No Name (Return of the Ancestors, #1)

by J.J. Makenzie

I found it ironic that my father claimed it was a man’s right to rule a woman, yet they could not even school their own thoughts around the flesh of a woman. Who ruled whom?

ROWAN DID NOT LEAVE ME to die. No, he returned to make sure I lived. Infuriating man.

every story ever told has many endings, for each hearer experiences it differently.”

“Child,” he’d whispered, “a butterfly must struggle to emerge from its captivity. The struggle makes it strong. Without beating her wings against the cocoon, she will never have the strength to survive. Not only to survive, but to beautifully soar as she is destined. You, child, must continue to beat your wings. You will soar one day. That, I promise.”

“There is never enough power to satisfy one who is never content with what he has, whether it is little or great,”

“When one has everything, he has nothing.” “How is that possible?” “Because he knows not the difference. If you have never wanted, how can you ever know what you need?”

Sometimes we seek so earnestly for a different life, we forget to live the one we have. ‘If we look for it, there is beauty in the struggle,’ she would say, ‘for if we did not struggle, how would we be able to recognize beauty?’”

“It is easier to bear the truth than to hide from it. Bearing it allows you to learn. Ignorance only blinds you.”

“There will always be good reasons to go to war, but open your eyes to see the better reasons to make peace.”

“Be the first one to let go. Don’t serve a master that only serves itself.” That was the very definition of pride—a master that only served itself.

“It is easy to see the worst in our enemies when we only give passing glances, because if we look too closely, we will most likely see ourselves.”