Trickster's Queen Quotes

“She would have kissed him, if she kissed stupid men.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“There is power and there is power, my dear. My power can be vast, in the right places.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“That night, the Raka conspirators had plenty of news to report, particularly Ochobu. Aly had not known that the mages of the Chain had been laboring to eliminate any mages who had worked magic on the Crown’s behalf. So far they had killed seven of the most powerful.

Chelaol would call this count of the dead another ‘good start,’ Aly thought grimly. This crude business of counting up lives taken struck her as a bad idea. It took the horror from death. When Ochobu named four mages on Lombyn who had had been killed in the streets of their towns, it had been about numbers, not lives.

Maybe this is how you become a Rittevon, she thought. You get used to the dead being described as numbers, not fathers or daughters or grandparents.

She turned to Dove when Ochobu finished, 'don’t ever be like this,' she urged. 'don’t think that it doesn’t matter if you only hear of murder as a number. If you keep it at a distance.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“Nawat grinned. “I was helping to steal soldiers who couldn't keep up.”

“What do you do with them?” she asked, curious. “I haven't heard of bodies being found.”

“Nor will you,” Nawat informed her, sitting on a corner of the worktable. “They were still alive when we gave them to my warriors at the edge of the jungle.”
He picked up Aly's hand and laced his fingers with hers. “My warriors will be able to say they last saw the missing soldiers alive, when the troops went on a visit to the jungle.”

Aly walked her free fingers over their entwined hands. “But why would Crown soldiers visit the jungle?”

“They didn't think they would at first,” Nawat admitted. “So my warriors show them the beauties of the deep jungle. They take away all the things the soldiers have of the civilized world, such as clothes and weapons and armor, so the soldiers will appreciate the jungle with their entire bodies. But my warriors have seen jungle before, so they get bored and leave. The soldiers stay longer.”

“Like the tax collectors,” Aly whispered, awed by the beauty of what he described. “Take away all they have and leave them to survive the jungle. If you're questioned under truthspell, you can say they were alive when you left them. And the only way they could survive naked out there . . .”
Nawat was shaking his head. Aly nodded. “I take it you don't leave them near any trails.”

“They are there to appreciate the jungle that has been untouched by humans,” Nawat told her, a teacher to a student who did not quite understand.

Aly sighed. “I am limp with envy,” she told him. “Simply limp.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“I imbue this place with my essence, every stone and every drop. My visit will do wonders for the flowers."

Aly propped her chin on her hand. "So does manure," she observed.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“I wanted to have something good to remember about today,” she replied quietly. “Something that wasn't petty and mean. Sometimes you have to provide such moments yourself.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“The god inside the man glanced at Aly. "This is your chessboard, I believe, my dear."
Aly beamed at him. "So it is. And the game begins.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“At the house, the gathering broke up quickly. Sarai announced that she had a headache and needed to lie down. Without her to hold them together, the young nobles chose to go home. The gloss had been stripped from the afternoon.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“What's a little thing like revolution between friends?”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen

“He was also to lift the ban on people in the streets. Both men knew it was risky to keep a population indoors for more than a day.”
― Tamora Pierce, Trickster's Queen