Seven for a Secret Quotes

“The older he got, the simpler the world was revealed to be.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“The wampyr was too old to believe in the sanctity of human governments or human religions. He’d seen too many rise and fall, too many fragile ephermal men and women give everything to support or oppose them.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“From here, he could see perfectly through the dark-the two women in white (a ridiculous affectation, even for Prussians, whom the wampyr found consistently preposterous) their back bisected by the black outlines of machine guns!”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“In human company, he mimicked the mannerisms of those with whom he interacted, reflecting them like the mirrors that could not reflect him in turn.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“The irony of a wampyr in awed discussion of the destruction wrought by another supernatural creature is not lost on me, you know.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“She supposed it was a kind of ironic justice, that her own treachery had created a safe haven that now sheltered her dead lover’s nephew, England’s King-in-Exile.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Would it be easier for him when she was gone, and so was Phoebe, and all of them who had known Jack passed from his existence, into the realm of memories where Sebastien had so reluctantly delved?”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Old age might as well be childhood, for all the capability and self-determination it stole.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Some people wore their authority with a booming voice and a swagger. And some wore it as if it were a veil-weightless, seemingly unconsequential, but always present.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“They secured their revolvers, braided their hair, and got into their nightgowns.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“The old sorceress gave him a bent, ironic smile.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Was it a thought of Jack that brought the frown across her face, Sebastien wondered, or was he casting his own emotions on her?”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Seven virtues, seven sins,” said Abby Irene. “Seven continents and seven seas. It is a number of great ritual importance.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“She was, Sebastien reminded himself, a criminal investigator. She needed no magic to pin a man on a stare.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Mortals. Sebastien had never understood exactly, how it happened, but somehow over the years Abby Irene and Phoebe had shifted from strained, formal rivalry to an equally formal and sharp-edged friendship that folded deep loyalty behind a mask of prickly dislike. The friendship had nothing to do with Sebastien, though it was his needs that had brought those two brilliant and unconventional women together, and he was pleased by the development. It suited him that these two oldest and most trusted members of his always meager court had found an accommodation.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Some might consider her a traitor to the crown-she had to admit, she numbered herself one such-but Abby Irene still had a friend or two in London, and a friend or two among those previously employed by the Crown’s Own.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“The Crown Investigators had been disbanded, those sorcerers who had not fled the country detained, and the Enchancery replaced by a skeleton staff of Prussian Zaubererdetektive.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“After decades spent light footed on the continent, Abby Irene’s library had been much reduced.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Mortals had the luxury of demanding permanence and having some slight chance of getting it. They did not need to acquire the skill of letting names, lovers, places slip through their fingers like hourglass sand.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“If someone must witness the humiliations of old age, at least it would be someone from whom she had no secrets.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Ruth’s heart raced with the kiss. In the cold dark, Adele’s mouth was soft and warm. She smelled of lily-of-the-valley, a rich waxy sweetness at odds with Adele’s coiffed hair and pressed hair and pressed uniform. Ruth wanted to press against her, unpin her dark-gold hair, feel the tumble of it across her fingers. Instead, there was only the resilience of chilled skin through her gloves, the tenderness of Adele’s breath against her skin.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“Abby Irene seemed as incapable of avoiding notoriety as a child of avoiding mud puddles.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“What Lady Abigail Irene forged, no mere night watchman could put asunder.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret

“They say the secret to getting away with murder is to tell no living soul. Well, the secret to getting away with lying is to believe with all your heart. That goes for lying to yourself, even more so than lying to another.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Seven for a Secret