“She has known the tide and undertow of my feelings, my hurts, both small and large, for most of my life.” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I tried to kill you,' she reminds me. 'You've described pretty much every important relationship in my life,' I return.” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I don't feel calm at all. I am a maelstrom of emotions. All I want to do is scream.” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“You want to free him? Let's gut him like a haddock. Quicker and far more satisfying.” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“How does it feel?' he asked. 'To be stuck in a fairy tale?' 'How does it feel to be one?' I countered...” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“The odd thing about ambition is this: You can acquire it like a fever, but it is not so easy to shed.” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Her fingers are cold against his flushed skin. It's nice. He hopes she won't take them away.” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“There is a pleasure in being with them,' he says. 'Taking what we want, indulging in every terrible thought. There's safety in… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I wonder if there's a limit to what I will let them do, if there is something that would make me fight… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Idly, I wonder what sort of execution Cardan might order. Maybe he'd strap me to some rocks and let the sea do… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“What I want is him back, him standing beside me, him laughing at all this. I would settle for even his worst… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Wisdom is for the meek,' he returns. 'And it seldom helps them as much as they believe it will. After all, as… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I hate you," I whisper before he can speak. He tilts my face to his. "Say it again," he says as the… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Opening the window, I sit at Taryn's desk and sip nettle tea, drinking in the sharp salt scent of the sea and… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“If anyone can get me through tonight, it's him. He's good at putting those around him at ease, even when they ought… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Please,' I say to the dirt floor of the brugh, to the earth itself. 'I will do whatever you want. I will… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“...you think it was sunrise I was waiting for and not my queen. Do you not hear her footfalls? She has never… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Have you come to throw yourself on the mercy of the crown? Perhaps you hope the Queen of Elfhame will show leniency.'… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I follow him behind the throne and off the dais, where a small door is set against the stone wall, half hidden… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“At least one person is going to be naked,' I say. 'You know it's true. I've never been to a single revel… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I missed you," I whisper against his skin and feel dizzy with the intimacy of the admission, feel more naked than when… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Let me make you an offer, little goat. We spar. If you lose, my cap is returned to me, unburnt. I continue… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Taryn is beautiful in her heavily embroidered dress, and Vivi radiant in soft violet grey with artfully sewn moths seeming to fly… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“The hardest thing- the impossible thing- is to get past the memory of Cardan telling me he loved me. He said those… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Please,' she says, her head bent. 'Please. You must try to break the curse. I know that you are the queen by… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Come with me,' Cardan says again, drawing me away from the blood-soaked star chart and the others taking their lessons. 'I am… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I will accompany you,' Cardan says, rising. I open my mouth to explain all the reasons that he can't go. The problem… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“He is even more horrifically beautiful than I was able to recall. They're all beautiful, unless they're hideous. That's the nature of… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Though I would not delight to see the straps sink into your skin, neither would I mourn.' 'Enough blustering,' he says. 'You've… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“The parlour is as I remember it from Council meetings. It carries the scent of smoke and verbena and clover. Cardan himself… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“I slip in to Cardan's room. Though it is not yet dawn, I am lucky. The room is empty of revelry. No… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“You were my guest until you drew your very fancy sword. Put it down and by my guest again.' 'Put it down?'… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“We show her that I am no feckless High king.' 'And how do we do that?' I ask. 'With great difficulty,' he… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“He's so beautiful, so perfectly, horribly, inhumanely beautiful that I can barely breathe.” — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“Cardan grins at me as though we've been great friends all our lives. I forgot how charming he can be--and how dangerous… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
“By the fire, a spindly, insectile faerie stirs a big pot. 'You want soup, mortal?' I shake my head. 'You want to… — Holly Black Copy Share Image
