The Dangerous Gift Quotes

“Is your job thinking?” Snowfall shouted, making him jump. “ARE YOU AN EXPERT THINKER? Did we accidentally assign you to scouting because we missed your GIANT AMAZING BRAIN and all the AMAZING THINKS it could have shared with us?! DOES IT SEEM LIKELY THAT YOUR THINKING WOULD INTEREST ME?”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“I’m not agreeable at all. You’d be like, ‘fetch me a narwhal!’ and I’d be all, ‘urrrgggh, whyyyyy, narwhals are heaaaaavy and I’m reeeeeeeading,’ and you’d say, ‘but I want one! right now!’ and I’d say, ‘then go GET one, bossytail,’ and you’d bellow, ‘I AM YOUR QUEEN!’ and I’d be like, ‘yes, but this book is at a really exciting part though,’ and theeeeen you’d probably have me executed. I’d be so irritating!”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Snowfall?” Lynx said after a moment. “Are you — did I break you?” She reached out and tapped lightly on Snowfall’s forehead.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“(Shut UP, Queen Ruby; go AWAY, Queen Glory; deal with your OWN STUPID DRAGONS, Queen Thorn!)”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Glacier breathed between spasms of coughing. “There will be no War of IceWing Succession. Do you three understand me?”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Another yellow-and-black dragon came hurrying over and wrapped her wings around the baby. She wore crooked spectacles and she looked absolutely exhausted.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Something suddenly charged at them across the sand, shrieking alien syllables. Snowfall spun toward it, drawing her knives, and was a tail flick away from throwing them when she realized the attacker was a tiny dragonet. Like, really tiny. It skidded to a stop with a terrified yelp, staring up at her glittering weaponry. Big, black-rimmed eyes blinked in a warm golden face. Her four wings were a little more shimmery and thinner than most of the others, and her scales alternated in black and yellow stripes. The dragonet burst into tears. “Oh, well done, Your Majesty,” Lynx whispered to Snowfall. “Excellent self-defense.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“The youngest queen in the history of the Ice Kingdom was going to be the very best queen of the IceWings ever. Ever ever. THE BEST. She was going to keep all her dragons safe. They were all going to be healthy and prosperous and safe and no one was going to die of any more evil magic plagues, like the one that killed the previous queen.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“from,’ like, seriously.” Lynx tilted her head and studied Snowfall for a moment as though she were a palm tree that had suddenly sprouted in the middle of the Ice Palace. “They’ll be all right now that they’re here,” she said finally. “Let me see that ring.” Snowfall grudgingly held out her talons, and Lynx gripped the ring between her claws. She pulled and wiggled it and tried sliding her claws under it and yanked some more, until Snowfall finally got fed up and snatched her arm back. “Well, YOU’RE no use,” Snowfall hissed. “No surprise there.” She dunked her claws in the water again. But now Lynx looked worried, which meant she was about to get very annoying. “It’s really not moving at all,” she said. “Snowfall … was that ring from the Forbidden Treasury? Is it animus-touched?” Snowfall frowned and shook a piece of seaweed off her tail. “Yes. But it doesn’t work.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Queen Snowfall again.” “They’re going to catch her,” Snowfall said breathlessly. “Cicada Hive is full of Wasp zombies lying in wait for Io and Cinnabar. I have to tell them. That’s where Blue is. They can’t go”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“I thought you didn’t trust animus magic and wearing this was a terrible idea,” Snowfall said accusingly. “I’m still right about that,” Lynx said, “but as long as you’re stuck with it, we should figure out what it’s trying to tell us.” “It’s not trying to tell me anything!” Snowfall protested. “It’s a ring! An inanimate object! With no agenda or feelings! Except maybe smugness. You’re very smug,” she snapped at the opal. “Arrgh, Snowfall, tell me what you saw!” Lynx lashed her tail, sending up gusts of sand. “Something happening back in the Ice Kingdom? Something that’s going to happen?” “No!” Snowfall barked. “Nothing useful! Nothing about my tribe or my problems! Nothing important at all! If this is stupid MAGIC, then it’s REALLY STUPID magic! Why would I, queen of the IceWings, need to know about all the inner emotions of a bunch of rainbow dragons from a completely irrelevant continent that I’ll never see?” “Inner emotions?” Lynx asked. “Like — you could feel what the SilkWings were feeling?” “First I was one of those sad-snouts,” Snowfall said, pointing up the beach. “Her name is Atala. Total tragedy face. And then last night I was some RANDOM dragon named Tau who is stuck back over there and freaking out. Why would I need to see that? It’s not like I can do anything to help her!” Not that she would have, even if she could! She wasn’t going to invite MORE invasive, strange-looking dragons here!”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“We can destroy her easily. It wasn’t the biggest feeling the battling dragons were all having — that was fear. And now that fear was all anyone talked about: NightWings, hey, maybe they’re just like us! Maybe they’re scared of stuff, too! We can totally understand them! Snowfall seemed to be the only one who remembered those layers of doubt under everything else. At least, no one had ever dared to ask her, “Hey, did you happen to hear me thinking”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“There was a SCAVENGER. STANDING. ON THE DRAGON’S HEAD. SHOUTING AT SNOWFALL IN DRAGON.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Personally, Snowfall thought they got an awful lot of credit considering the real heroes were a deadly snake and an old enchanted orb.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“You are a useless minion,” Snowfall observed. “Frieeeeeend,” Lynx enunciated clearly before edging away and burying herself farther into the sand. Her voice came sleepily over the dune. “The word you’re looking for is friend.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“It’s Moon, actually,” she said. “Just Moon, not Moonface.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“See,” Jerboa said flatly. “I knew you could do it. You just had to believe in yourself. Rah rah.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Oh, I know!” Cricket said. “Wait, Queen Snowfall, we’re not total strangers! Bumblebee and I had an ancestor from your continent, hundreds of years ago. Doesn’t that help to know? You must have heard of her — we’re descendants of Clearsight!”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Wrong,” Snowfall snapped. “Objectively wrong. NightWings are NINE THOUSAND PERCENT evil.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“She spotted a cluster of ice structures below them, along the cliff that overlooked the ocean here. “What’s that?” “One of the outer villages,” Lynx said. “Where-the-Terns-Fly, I think.” “I should royally decree that all IceWing villages must have one-word names,” Snowfall said grumpily.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“You look tired,” Lynx said after a little while. “That’s treason, and no, I don’t,” Snowfall snapped.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“how the shiny heroic dragonets finally ended it. Personally, Snowfall thought they got an awful lot of credit considering the real heroes were a deadly snake and an old enchanted orb.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“It’s just to say I love you,” Mink said shyly.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Must be nice to be a scavenger, Snowfall thought. No problems in the world,”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“He flew away immediately, and then she spent seven minutes worrying about whether she’d been too harsh with him and whether an excellent queen would have said any of that, and whether a certain sister of hers would have been more serene and therefore more excellent, and then another twelve minutes growling at herself about how excellent queens didn’t second-guess themselves and how she needed to be more decisive, and then she realized that she was accidentally thinking about murdery black dragons trying to murder her again, and she had to lie down and cover her face for a moment. When she finally sat up, her aunt Tundra was standing in the doorway of the balcony, watching her with impassive raised eyebrows. “Hello,” Snowfall said haughtily. I was definitely not panicking. I was resting my eyes in a very normal queenly fashion. I do not need to explain myself. I am the queen and therefore whatever I do is queenly, no matter what her eyebrows think!”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“I know you’re lying but I can’t say you are because you’re the queen but maybe you should just admit it because my eyebrows are so onto you.” “Well, you were doing that nothing very vigorously,” Lynx said. “So I wondered. You know. A whole lot of vigorous nothing before breakfast.” “Maybe I have had breakfast,” Snowfall observed. “You wouldn’t know, since you’ve been asleep half the morning.” “I do know that you have not,” Lynx said, “because I asked your guards and they said you’ve been out here for ages, doing battle with either your own claws or an invisible shark.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“Snowfall could watch the stars come out without a sense of suffocating dread. For once, her scales weren’t crawling with the knowledge that Tundra was tip-tapping toward her on cold, judgmental claws. The wall was far, far away, and Snowfall did not have to worry about it for one blissful night. Which could be two nights. Maybe three … maybe even four, if Sanctuary required inspecting or anything like that. The wall wasn’t going anywhere. Snowfall would face it again when she returned to the ice palace. There was no need to rush back. Queen Glacier had often gone on diplomatic trips or battle missions for days, and the kingdom didn’t collapse. Maybe that was why she’d gone away so often, come to think of it.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“HA,” Snowfall snorted. “I only have, like, seven non-magical weapons on me. We need THOUSANDS of weapons to drive these dragons away!” Lynx glanced down at her claws, as if she’d only just noticed that those were the only weapons she’d brought. “Really? Seven weapons?” “Yes, of course!” Snowfall said. She pointed to the spear on her back. “Spear.” Then to the knives in the sheaths at her wrists. “Knife, knife.” Then to the sheaths under her wings, the concealed pockets of her chain mail armor, and the pouch around her neck. “Knife, knife, throwing stars, poison.” She didn’t mention the other three hidden weapons, just in case Lynx was actually working for Crystal or the NightWings or had her own ulterior motives and was maybe planning to attack Snowfall as soon as she had her away from the castle unprotected. Well, ha ha, Snowfall had foiled her with those five guards! And the extra secret weaponry. And the totally being onto her!”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“A secret hides within their book.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift

“urrrgggh, whyyyyy, narwhals are heaaaaavy and I’m reeeeeeeading,’ and you’d say, ‘but I want one! right now!’ and I’d say, ‘then go GET one, bossytail,’ and you’d bellow, ‘I AM YOUR QUEEN!’ and I’d be like, ‘yes, but this book is at a really exciting part though,’ and theeeeen you’d probably have me executed.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, The Dangerous Gift