One Dark Throne Quotes

“No matter how far I go, I'm still your person. We stand together now.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Perhaps that is how all men love. More with their eyes than with their hearts.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“You cannot kill what is already dead.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“The cloth overlay of Billy’s cart clucks, and a brown chicken pokes her head out from under the covering, stepping out of the basket she was riding in.

“There is a chicken in your cart.”

“I know,” Billy snaps, and slaps his napkin across his lap.

“Why is there a chicken in your cart?”

“Because this was supposed to be chicken stew,” he says. “I’ve been hand-feeding this bird for days to be sure it was not poisoned before the fact. And now . . .” He pours Mirabella some water and drinks from her cup. The hen clucks, and Billy tosses down a chunk of bread.

“Now her name is Harriet,” he says quietly.

Mirabella laughs.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“But everyone knows that the Breccia Domain is more than an empty hole in the earth. Who knows what happened to the queens who were thrown down into the dark? Into the heart of the island, where the Goddess’s eye is always open. Who knows how she kept those queens or what she turned them into”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“And because . . . you have always been the most important person to me. Everybody has that, I think. And for me, it will always be you.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Outside in the yard, Arsinoe follows Jules past the chicken coops as she and Camden stretch their sore limbs in the sun. Then she darts off into the woodpile.

“What are you digging for?” Jules asks.

“Nothing.” But Arsinoe returns with a book, brushing bits of bark off the soft green cover. She holds it up and Jules frowns. It is a book of poison plants, lifted discreetly from one of the shelves in Luke’s bookshop.

“You shouldn’t be messing about with that,” Jules says. “And what if someone sees you with it?”

“Then they’ll think I’m trying to get revenge, for what was done to you.”

“That won’t work. Reading a book to out-poison the poisoners? You can’t even poison a poisoner, can you?”

“Say ‘poison’ one more time, Jules.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Do you know what they do with the dead queens, Sister? [...] They throw them in the Breccia for the island to eat. And may I tell you a secret? [...] They are tired of it.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Mirabella is still upright amid everything, and Arsinoe smiles. She does not know how anyone ever expected that she or Katharine could stand against that.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Mirabella’s eyes fill with tears, and Billy quickly wipes his mouth. He scoops strawberry tart onto his fork and holds it out.

“Here,” he says. “You must try this.” As she takes the bite, he uses his thumb to discreetly wipe the tear that falls down her cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he says softly. “I suppose I haven’t even tried to consider your point of view. It was thoughtless of me.”

“It is all right,” Mirabella says. “Does she know that you love her?”

Billy raises his eyebrows.

“Why would she when I didn’t? It wasn’t like I read in books. A thunderclap. Eyes meeting. Tortured glances. With Arsinoe it was more like . . . having cold water poured down your back and learning to enjoy it.”

“And does she love you?”

“I don’t know. I think she might.” He smiles. “I hope she does.”

“I hope so too.” Another tear slides down her cheek, and Billy darts forward to discreetly hide it.

“It is all right,” she says. “They will think I am only crying because of how terrible this strawberry tart is.”

Billy sets down his fork, insulted. Then they both begin to laugh.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Tommy Stratford and Michael . . . something or other,” she says. “Are you worried I’ll like them better than I like you?”

“That’s just not possible.”

“Why? Because you’re so irresistible?”

“No. Because you don’t like anyone.”

Arsinoe snorts.

“I do like you, Junior.”

“Oh?”

“But I have more important things to think about right now.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“She is not clever . . . She is cruel.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“From now on, I will protect you, Kat, whatever happens.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“She jogs until she reaches Billy, and falls in step beside him. He glances at her, then back at the ground.

“Is this how it is, then?” she asks after several moments. “One visit to my sister and we are no longer friends?”

He stops at the crest of a hill and squints out at the sun sparkling off the ripples in Sealhead Cove.

“I wish we weren’t. When my father sent me to Rolanth, I swore that I would hate you. That I wouldn’t be a fool like Joseph and get myself stuck in between.” He smiles at her sadly. “Why couldn’t you be wretched? Don’t you have any manners? You should’ve had the courtesy to be terrible. So I could despise you.”

“I am sorry. Shall I start now? Spit in your eye and kick you?”

“That sounds like something Arsinoe would do, actually. So I would find it endearing”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“You could be the one. But up close, you are such a disappointement. Your eyes are wary as a kicked dog's, when you and I both know you have never been kicked in your life. Not like me, who has been kicked down with poisons and popped blisters and made to vomit until I weep. That is why I am going to win,”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Or perhaps there were more sides to a woman than he had ever understood.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Do not be ridiculous, boy. You cannot kill what is already dead.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“What talent you have for making a compliment sound like a threat.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“I have been eating poison since I was a child. Now I am practically made of it.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“I failed you once. I betrayed you once. But I will not again. From now on, I will protect you . . . whatever happens.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“In his mind, she was a nurture, kind and comforting, a woman who would give up her freedom for the love of a child even when the child was not hers. But the woman he met was hard and decisive. Perhaps the Black Cottage had changed her. Or perhaps there were more sides to a woman than he had ever understood.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Jules!” Arsinoe hisses. “Jules, are you down here?”

“Arsinoe!” Jules and Camden scramble up to the bars as Arsinoe runs to them. They embrace her as well as they can with hands and paws. Camden purrs and licks her face.

“Camden, blegh.” Arsinoe grins and wipes her cheek.

“I might have licked you as well, I’m so happy to see you.” Jules gasps.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Willa walks past Arsinoe on the way to the kitchen.

“Goose and onion pie tonight.” Willa holds up a small yellow onion and chucks Arsinoe beneath the chin with it.

“Mmm,” Arsinoe replies uncertainly. “Was that . . . one of my favorites?”

“You do not remember?”

“I don’t.” Arsinoe follows her through the sitting room, looking at the paintings and the furniture. It would not have changed much, but nothing feels familiar. “Mirabella remembers everything. If she were here, the sentimental goof would be hugging that chair.”

“Even when she was a girl, Mirabella had far too much dignity to go about hugging chairs. Unlike you.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“And I will be back with my Arsinoe before she can even miss me.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Pietyr, I am poison."
"And I am a poisoner.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“Arsinoe grew up believing she would die. She just didn't count on having so much to live for.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“I love them, she realizes. I love them both.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“You are never ready. The legion curse drives people mad. More than one gift is too much for a mind to bear.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

“I keep thinking of what we should have done," he says. "What we could have done differently. But maybe there was nothing." He snorts. "Sometimes you just lose. After all, someone has to.”
― Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne