Forest of Ruin Quotes

“I have one more task to carry out before I go, Moria.” She turned to Gavril. “You may leave us.”

“I may . . . but I will not.”

“Ignore him,” Moria said. “I do. As much as possible.”

“I do not blame you. He seems very ill-tempered. Traitors ought to be more charming or they’ll never woo anyone to their side.” She turned to Gavril. “Is your father more charming?”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“Could Ashyn do the same in the same situation? Likely not. Heroes made the bold moves. Heroes risked their lives. Others kept the troops at ease, tended the wounded, fed the hungry, and soldiered on, and the world could not survive without them any more than it could without heroes.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“Sometimes doing the right thing was not nearly as easy as one might think. Which was perhaps why people did the wrong things so often.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“Moria would storm out against their wishes. Yet Ashyn was coming to accept that she could not be her sister, and it was not a failure of nerve. It was a difference of inner composition. They might look identical without; they were not identical within.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“As they neared the spot from which the noise had come, Moria saw a hand lying on the pathway. It appeared to be attached to a body, which was a relief. Again, these days, one could not guarantee such a thing.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“It is certainly not impossible that my father would attempt to frighten me,” he said. “He did so many times in my youth. But he takes too great a risk here. I am his only heir. There is little point in winning an empire if one cannot launch a dynasty. With both his age and his past . . . performance, he is not foolish enough to believe he can father more sons. That is why I can get away with some degree of disrespect. Yet there is a limit, as I’ve learned. My sons could be his heirs as well as I could. He has threatened me with that when I am overtly impudent.”

“Threatened you with what? Forcing you to father children? I’m hardly an expert in the matter, but my rudimentary knowledge of the process suggests that would be difficult.”

She swore Gavril flushed. Impossible to tell with his skin tone, of course, but his expression said if he was a Northerner, he’d be as red as a summer plum.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“Speak here,” Ronan said. “As Ash’s guard, I ought to be privy to any plans.”

“You are hardly in any shape to function as her guard, my son. Rest, and when you’ve recovered, you can—”

“I’ve recovered enough to stay by her side,” Ronan said. “Which I will, particularly now, after what happened to the guard you assigned.”

“It was not Tarquin’s fault,” Ashyn said.

“I do not mean to minimize the tragedy of his death,” Ronan said. “But he wasn’t up to his task. You require better. You require me.”

“You have a high opinion of yourself,” Edwyn said dryly.

“No, I have a high opinion of the danger Ash faces, and I don’t trust anyone else to understand it. Clearly your guard did not expect fiend dogs.”

“No one expects fiend dogs,” Ashyn said.

“True, but at least you and I expect the unexpected.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“Yes. Your plan is sound. I will go first.”

Moria stood at his back, dagger raised. Gavril pushed the door. It did not budge. He eyed it and seemed ready to bash his shoulder into it when she whispered, “You cannot fight with a dislocated sword arm, Kitsune. Kick it.”

He hesitated.

“If you fall on your arse, I’ll not laugh.” She paused. “Or not loudly.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“She dreamed she was back in that cell, fighting off the guard—Halmond—pulling back the knife to stab him. Only in the dream, he wrested it from her fingers and slammed it into her gut, and she gasped, her eyes closing and then opening to see, not Halmond holding the blade, but Gavril.

Moria shot upright, screaming, still feeling the agony of the blade buried in her gut, and then she saw Gavril, right there, his hands on her shoulders, saying her name. She fought wildly, half asleep, seeing Gavril’s face in both dream and reality, his cold and empty expression as he plunged the blade in deeper, and then the other Gavril, his eyes wide with alarm, her name on his lips, his hand over her mouth to stifle her cries.

“It’s all right,” he said. “It’s me. I’m here.”

She kicked and clawed, biting his hand and struggling with everything she had while he fought to restrain her, muttering, “Not the right thing to say, apparently.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“They caught the sound of footfalls at the same moment, and both stood as a tall figure ran toward them, his blade in hand.

“Stop there, traitor,” Sabre said, raising her sling. “Or I’ll fell you before you take another step.”

“The advantage of a missile weapon,” Moria said.

“Exactly. And it appears he has enough experience with yours to respect mine.”

“No, he’ll only pretend he’s listening, as he talks and distracts, and then creeps close enough to use his sword.”

“I can hear you,” Gavril called.

“Good,” Moria said. “Then you can hear that I’m not under any duress, and you can presume that if our visitor was helping me escape, we’d be gone by now, not chatting like girls at a tea ceremony. Since I know you’ll not stay where you are, you may approach half the distance, then lay down your sword and come closer.”

“May I?”

“Only if you behave. And keep quiet. Otherwise, stay where you are.”

“I think you forget who is—”

“—in charge here? No, Kitsune, I do not. I am in charge, because if you do not return with me, you will pay the price. That is why you’ve accommodated me so far and it’s why you’ll continue to do so now.”

Sabre chuckled. Gavril stalked closer.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“Moria would set them straight - at the point of her dagger if needed. Ashyn did not care. She had escaped on her own, and everyone who mattered knew that, and that was what would be important in her life - that those she loved truly valued the role she played. And she would continue playing it, working with them, whatever they needed of her. She was a hero ... to those who mattered.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“She'd been friendly with the children of their village, but it had always been her sister whom they loved. Or so she thought. Now, they embraced her and they clung to her and they climbed on Tova. And she realized that, perhaps, she had never been overshadowed by Moria quite as much as she'd felt overshadowed. The sisters were different. But that only meant they had their own strengths.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“What's the worst thing that can happen?" Tyrus said. "The dungeons. That's not so bad. I heard they're relatively nice in the springtime. Not too cold. Not too damp. They'd be quiet and peaceful." Tyrus looked at Gavril. "Tell me I can do this."
"Why? There's no doubt you can. The question is simply whether you'll survive it."
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
"We have not heard that your father has reinstituted capital punishment. Of course, we haven't heard news from the city in many days."
"You are not helping.”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin

“This is not one of the bandits,” she said.

Gavril looked closer at the shadow-stalker-abandoned corpse. “You are correct,” he said, as if with some surprise.

She gave him a look. “Thank you. So it seems we are stuck in the middle—sorry, the edge of the steppes—with no horses and a useless wagon and a landscape populated by shadow stalkers. If they are indeed raised by some confederate of your father’s, then we should be safe enough. We simply need to find this sorcerer and turn ourselves in to him to be returned to your father and resume our original mission. However, the fact that it”—Moria waved at the shadow stalker—“attempted to attack you suggests we are not safe at all. What is going on here, Kitsune?”

“I . . . I’m thinking.”

“If you do it aloud, perhaps I can help. Unless you still think me a dull-witted Northerner.”

“I only said that to needle you.”

“You also did it in front of your father.”

“As I said, it was to convince him you were not intellectually capable . . .” He stopped and scowled at her. “You’re needling me now, Keeper. Playing on my guilt to make me share my thoughts.”

“I do not believe I am intellectually capable of such cunning—”

“Enough. ”
― Kelley Armstrong, Forest of Ruin