Crier's War Quotes

“If longing is madness, then none of us are sane.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Humanity is how you act, my lady,” said Jezen. “Not how you were Made.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Crier wanted to study her like a map. Draw an easy path between all the specific yet scattered points of her.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“She had never really seen a pair of eyes like this. It was like standing in the doorway to a dark room, like balancing on a threshold, holding a lantern up and watching how it kissed some things gold and left other things in shadow. It was the kind of dark that hid and held a lot of things. A hot fluid dark, a summer tide pool dark, a wild breathless dark.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Justice was a god, and Ayla didn't believe in such childish things. She believed in blood.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Crier wanted to point to her chest, this is the hurting part, this is the bleeding part, fix it or take it out.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“She didn't usually feel the aloneness quite this much, but it was harder, this time of year, to ignore the graveyard in her chest.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“There was something terrible in her, something clawed and angry and afraid and sad… The truth of Ayla, the pain of her, was like a song you could feel vibrating on the air, even if you didn’t know the words. It was a hum, low and throaty and full of sorrow.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Ayla wanted to see her break things, wanted to see her broken, wanted to watch her break apart, wanted to be the cause of it.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“A drop of water gleamed on Ayla's lower lip. Strangely, it made Crier want to—drink.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“I have a heart like you, Ayla." Crier repeated, pressing Ayla's hand harder against her chest. Ayla heard her own heartbeat and felt Crier's—a song tapping against her palm, a racing pulse beneath her fingers. Ayla was breathing too hard. She was breathing too hard. "I feel things too," Crier whispered.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“She carried the same intensity about her, like heat waves rising from her skin, even though she was just standing in the doorway and not currently in the middle of saving Crier's life. Like she was more than a human girl. Like she was a summer storm made flesh.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“I was talking about how you never, ever stop fighting, no matter how much it hurts.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Perhaps the butterfly was actually a wasp.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“The truth of Ayla, the pain of her, was like a song you could feel vibrating on the air, even if you didn't know the words.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Ayla was as silent as the storm was loud in Crier's head. Her heart raced.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“She was called the Barren Queen, but I never met anyone less empty. For if one is wanting of a child, then by nature their heart is overfilled with love -- overflowing, yearning for a new vessel to hold that love, like spilling water.
There are some who call her a monster. Some who call her mad.
If longing is madness, then none of us are sane.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Which illness gives you stomach pains and a limp," Crier muttered, helping Ayla through the green door of the inn.
"A bad one," Ayla retorted.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“She had known Ayla for less than an hour total, and already she knew what she wanted.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Those foxes were wild, though. Wild, frightened, ready to run. Claws and teeth and matted fur. Sometimes that was Ayla. Most times it was not.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“It was the way their skin stretched over their hand-designed muscles and bones. Like it could barely keep all the monster inside.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Their faces were so close—she had the advantage of height over Ayla, and something about staring down into Ayla's face, even when it was all twisted with indignant anger, made Crier's blood sing.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“You clever girl. Oh, you clever, fearsome girl.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Her family's death had left her not a person but a ghost, a ruined shell, a carcass. The parts that had survived would be tainted forever.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“It only takes One clever fox to best a thousand men.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Did something happen?"
"No," said Ayla, her voice wooden. "Nothing happened."
That's a lie, Crier thought.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Crier stared at the green feathers, so flimsy and light, yet carrying so much meaning.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“Crier had been designed. Crier was made. But in the moment Ayla first touched her, Crier had learned what it felt like to be born.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“If longing is madness, then none of us are sane”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War

“But you just do what you think is right, Ayla. It was never really a choice, was it? Wanting her. Killing her.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War