The White City Quotes

“Starkad ducked his head to smile at Sebastien through his lashes, a coquettish expression for such an ancient face.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“As if turning her back on the wampyrs would somehow keep her safe from them, she busied herself with tea and pot.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Abby Irene had a particular, aristocratic thinking pose Sebastien thought of as characteristic: left wrist draped over the right, shoulders back, chin lifted. When she assumed it, as she did now, lounging behind the breakfast table in their hotel suite, he felt an inner calm steal through him.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“It had been a long time since Sebastien surrendered to something more powerful than he.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“You persist. I need such strings, such anchors, if I am to endure.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“It was a relief not to be the old one for a change. Not to set the tone of every encounter.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“His cold hand stroked Sebastien’s cold cheek, the flesh so very thin between their bones.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“The language was old and softly spoken, full of hushed slurring sounds, as dear and half-forgotten as cradle song.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“He was a slender, darker shape against the darkness, something fragile and is real as a knife blade.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Starkad might have been a statue, for all he showed the pain Sebastien could smell in him.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“It was something to see, a woman in her fifties leading the charge of younger men up four flights, and Sebastien lagged back a little, to appreciate it.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Her ingrained response to intimidation was belligerence, and she was priding herself on stepping on the impulse firmly when Starkad smiled at Phoebe.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“I imagine over the years, you did not accept everyone who wanted you.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Garrett had often thought she was made for one thing-bringing the wicked to justice-and everything else in her life had heretofore been just frills around that main thread.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Starkad was so old that to survive he had come unstuck, not just from human society, but from the timeless society of the blood as well.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“You’re more to me than dinner, Jack.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Starkad’s English accent was exquisite, cultured, and a hundred years or so out of date. Sebastien had no doubt that his Russian would be similar, and perhaps even more archaic.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“So this is what you left me for? Not bad.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“If I did not know better, I would say you brought death in the folds of your coat.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Grief, Sebastien had reason to know, never got easier, though each individual case of it did fade in time. And in time, one developed strategies.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“He’d wind up back at the apartment-he always did-but at least he could enjoy the satisfaction of a good exit for now!”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“If he could follow Jack halfway across the city by scent, he could certainly smell Irina all over Jack’s clothes and body.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Patron or not, he was unsurprised to find Sebastien waiting in the icy street below, leaning on a silvershod ebony cane, looking gloriously out of place in his beaver hat and overcoat. A casual inspiration would have a man just above average height-five foot eight inches, perhaps, taller than Jack, anyway-with thick black hair that wanted to curl and a swarthy complexion that after concealed his wampyr pallor. An unnecessary muffler wrapped across his face his the fact that he had no warm breath to mist, but Jack made billows enough for both of them.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Jack didn’t really need to know what was being said, in its specifics-the hypnotic tones of Ilya’s voice, the susurrus of approval that rose to fell each pause were enough. Jack could feel the excitement sweep over the room.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“She licked her lips, quickly, guiltily, and sipped tea as if to disguise the gesture as thirst.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Apparently, blunt honesty was good enough to provoke a laugh out of her.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Like sorcerers, some of us pull the heart from our chest and invest it elsewhere. You have to find where we hid it.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“All the boys want Irina,” she said, without prologue. “But Irina doesn’t want any of the boys. Not for long, anyway. She’ll break your heart, English boy.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“Jack asked twice where Irina was taking him; each time she answered with a headshake and what he could interpret as a smile, though her scarf hid the lower half of her face completely.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City

“He grinned, delighted to share his trade secrets with a fellow professional and Garrett felt a sharp and sudden pain.”
― Elizabeth Bear, The White City