Rae Carson Quotes

A word is the only thing in the world made more powerful by absence than existence.

she glides away as if she were the princess and I a dumpy maid in a sooty dress. While

How did you get here? To California, I mean."

"I walked across the ocean. On water, like your Jesus."

It takes a split second to realize she's funning me.

"On a ship, you dolt. In the hold, actually. I stowed away.

Han Solo was his past. But Rey was his light.

His gaze drops to my lips. "I shouldn't do this
"
"You really should." And I close the distance between us.

No, no." I motion vaguely. "Relax. Don't look so ... guardlike." They drop formation at once, glancing at one another shamefaced. Hector draped an arm around my shoulder as if we were out for a companionable stroll. He leans down and says, "So. Horrible heat we've been having lately.

Fury is like a monster inside me, the one thing in my life I've been unable to master. I sent up a quick prayer of apology. "I know you don't listen to me the way you listen to my sister. But I'm sorry just the same." And then, because I am me and not my sister, I add: "Of course if you would help me see the strength in her, or nudge her to be a little more useful, then I wouldn't have to be sorry." Very likely this is why my prayers are seldom answered. (Alodia speaking of her sister Elisa)

Her love for me has always been a foolish thing, but I'm grateful for it.

Do you want to get married someday?" he persists.
And never have anything of my own? "Lord, no. [ ... ]

When you get intense, you spark. And you have the kind of hair any man would want to get tangled in.

Sometimes it's best to let your opponent think he has control.

Alone is such a nebulous state when one is queen.

Maybe you could heal her? You're the one who loves her."
"I don't know how to heal."
"What you mean is you're too afraid to try."
His face turns thoughtful. "Yes, that's exactly what I mean.

He peers closer, his hand dropping away. "What happened to your hair?"

"I cut it."

"Why on earth would . . . Oh."

"I'd appreciate it if you kept my secret."

He frowns. "I don't see how anyone with half a mind would mistake you for a boy."

"It's worked so far. I'm strong and I work hard and I ride well."

"Also, you can spit farther than any boy I know."

"And shoot straighter!"

He nods solemnly. "And opine louder.

My face warms under the scrutiny of silence, and I'm almost relieved when he launches into his eulogy. To my dismay, it turns out to be a sermon.

There's not a place in the whole world where everyone isn't willing
no, eager
to give a girl up to a man.

He had a way of believing in people long before they believed in themselves, didn't he?

He studies me thoughtfully. "You are a beautiful queen, Elisa," he says voice pitched low.
I never expected he would say such a thing. "A month or two of pastries will fix that," I say. Then I smile to show him I mean it flippantly.
His expression does not change. "Even then.

May I document your recovery? It's such a devastating and fascinating injury.

Yes, our love is a mutual thing, a thing between equals, but we can't escape the fact that I am his queen. It is up to me whether or not we see each other this night. I must decide.

Hope. Such a dangerous thing.

It is human nature to concoct explanations to fill the great void of the unknown.

I wasn't done with you. I was just getting started with me.

Widow Joyner is repacking a trunk with clean clothes when I return. She looks up as I approach, and her expectant smile instantly disappears. "What happened?" "The reverend and I had a theological disagreement that ended in a permanent schism." "So ... no congratulations are in order?

The gate that leads to life is narrow and small so that few find it.

Where innovation was high but resources were low, you took what you had, slapped it all together, and hoped it held. It was the Corellian way.

Belen shrugs. "It's a perfect plan."
"As easy as falling in love," Mara adds.
"Foolproof," Hector agrees.
I don't deserve such friends. I blink against the sting of threatening tears and say, "All you Joyans are filthy liars.

The fifth place is for Hector.

I need air and light and a kind word. I need my friends. I need Peony.

I need my guns.

I lie awake for a long time, wondering which would be more foolish, to prepare for something that may never happen, or not to prepare for something that might.

I'll have to think about it more later, when the blessed darkness feels something like privacy.

Lying isn't going to make you into a hero.

My supposed destiny can drown itself in the deepest part of the sea. Along with everyone else's plans for me.

Can't we go another way?"
"Nope. Only way to reach the green grass of Oregon or the sweet gold of California is through hell itself."
I roll my eyes. The Major has been especially colorful since his amputation, cussing and exaggerating and telling tall tales. He reminds me of Daddy, except not fit for female company.

"Nope." title="Rae Carson Quotes: Can't we go another way?"
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One thing I have learned from many years of watching my father is that some people, the best ones, are motivated more by the chance to prove themselves than by a command to serve. It is the work itself that calls them onward, especially if they believe they are the only ones who can do it.

Well maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe you'll marry a man who is rich and powerful and wise AND wonderful to be naked with.'
I can't help the giggle that bubbles from my mouth.
'Maybe,' she says, 'you should ask all your suitors to drop their breeches so you can inspect the merchandise.'
'Mara!'
'You could make it a royal command.'
I toss a pillow at her.

Hector!" He whips around. "You were never, never, going to be just a diversion to me." He sighs, nodding. "That was unfair of me," he says. "I'm sorr - " "And you will kiss me again. That and more. Count on it.

A woman married is a woman with nothing of her own. Everything she's ever worked for belongs to her husband.

Just ... resting eyes. Heal me tomorrow. If I'm not ... "
Belen slaps her awake again.
"I hate you," she says.
"Yes," he agrees solemnly. "For years now.

It would be useless to tell him that I'm done sacrificing other people for my own gain. I won't whip innocent kitchen workers, I won't burn down buildings, I won't ask anyone to give up their inheritance for me, and I certainly won't leave a friend at the mercy of a mysterious magical force-- merely for the sake of my own power. I press my fingers to the stone at my navel, taking comfort in its familiar pulsing. What I tell him is, 'And I have me. I will be enough.

I will not pretend weakness. Not ever, not for anyone.

Even more than the cold, I'm frozen by the sadness in his beautiful eyes, deep and true. He squeezes them closed a moment and breathes deeply through his nose. Then, with one swift movement, he cups the back of my neck with a strong hand, pulls my head forward, and presses his lips to mine. He wastes precious moments kissing me, his tongue gliding across my lips, darting at my teeth. I open my mouth and kiss back just as eagerly.

I will need more than this, O God. If you love me as Aneaxi said, please send me something to go on. Something soon.

Make no mistake," Enrico says finally. "I never would have accepted your application were it not for the King's order. I expect you will be expelled within the month."
His forthrightness makes me bold. "I expect you will be surprised, my lord.

God's will. How many times have I heard someone declare their understanding of this thing I find so indefinable?

The Princess of Alderaan has disrupted my plan,

And I refuse to be governed by fear. The life stretching before me is that of a queen. It's a life I chose. Fought for, even. I cannot - will not - squander it on dread.

Men. And their no-good, fool-headed proposals.

You look beautiful," Alodia says.
I startle at the compliment. Then I smile. "I'm beautiful to the one person who matters."
She nods. "Hector's mouth is going to drop open when he sees you."
"I hope so. But I meant me. I'm beautiful to me.

Rosario is safe. You were supposed to outlive me. Elisa is ten times the ruler you were. I've stolen your wife. I'm not sorry.
I miss you.

It's not our place to question God's will, and it is clearly God's will that the two of us become man and wife." It's a testament to my fine character that I don't smash that Bible right into his nose. "You wouldn't know God's will if it tipped its hat and said howdy.

She grabs my hand and squeezes. Then she looks me up and down, frowning. "You're disgusting."
"I dressed to commemorate the time you dragged me through the desert.

It seems to me that when God decided he wanted to communicate with humankind, he could have come up with a much better plan.

Fernando de Ismelda," Enrico says. "You won the kingdom's archery competition. I gather it was quite a surprise to everyone."
"Not to me," the boy says.
I decide that I like Fernando de Ismelda.

She's as big as a house that's about to give birth to a woodshed

I loved and lost and survived.

I love everything about him. I love that he cares so much about honor and duty. I love how, when he's working hardest to mask his feelings, they're actually leaking out all over the place. I love the way his hair curls when it gets wet, his slightly crooked smile, the way he smells. When he laughs, I feel it in my toes.

Catch me if I fall?

The hymn echoes in my head while I ready our wagon to leave. I've never felt so far from God's grace. I suppose I am a stranger walking on earth, but I'm no son of God. I'm no son at all.

Walking away from my desert companions feels like cutting off a limb. How does one say good-bye to an arm? One doesn't, I suppose. One pretends it isn't happening.

Storm returns with close-cropped hair the color of corn silk and a new swagger.

I should mark my surroundings better. I should look for exits, weaknesses, but I can't make myself focus, and after a moment, I don't even care. Dear Lord, I'm weary.

But you and I - " he brushes the collar of the gown aside - "are students of knowledge. We believe in careful practice to attain perfection.

You do realise, don't you, that I was present during the assassination attempt?

He acknowledged her, and Rey's lips parted in surprise. It felt different now. The connection was…right. Good. Like coming home.

Storm explains, "Joyans find Invierno names complicated and incomprehensible."
I glare at him. Storm and I were going to have a conversation about 'complicated and incomprehensible" versus 'over-wrought and inefficient'.

I slip my canteen strap over my head, open the lid, and take a drink. Then I hand it to Hampton. A peace offering. "It's not communionif there's no wine."
Hampton tips it to his lips and swallows long and hard. He wipes his mouth when he's done. "Well, darn. The Savior got confused and turned this wine into water."
"The Lord works in mysterious ways," Henry says, taking the canteen fromHampton

I hadn't realized having ones life saved could be so humiliating.

But none of it will be real. None of them will want me. My throne, yes. Prestige. A conquest. But not me.

You made me cut and dye my hair."
Surely he understands that we face greater problems? "I thought it would greatly improve your looks," I snap.
"Shorn hair is a sign of shame. You humiliate me greatly."
"I'll light a candle tonight in honor of your dead tresses.

That is a lovely quilt, recruit," he says.
"Thank you, sir."
"It's the envy of every little girl in Brisadulce. I saw them sitting on the wall today, staring at that blanket and asking their mothers if they could join the Guard so they could have one just like it. Is that what you want, recruit? You want a Guard full of girls?"
"If they can fight well enough to defend the King, sir.

Weren't you scared?" I ask.
"Yes. But it was a good scared."
"There's a good kind?"
"Oh, yes." Her voice drops so low I have to strain to hear. "Orlin made me scared all the time. Scared I would starve. Scared I would get too cold. Scared he would hurt me again or get so mad he'd throw me to one of the men. That was nasty bad scared." She pauses, scuffing her boots against the floor. "But you never hit me, even though I'm your slave ... You always feed me. You call me my true name. Now when I'm scared, it's not because of meanness. And today, I chose my own scared. It's always a good scared, when you get to pick it your own self.

"Yes." title="Rae Carson Quotes: Weren't you scared?" I ask.
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Fernando, my best archer, stands on the rear platform, bow slung over his shoulder. He bows from the waist, his face grave. Four horses flick their tails and dance in their jeweled traces. I eye them warily while Hector helps me up.

Then he offers a hand to Ximena, and in spite of their recent disagreement, a look of fierce understanding passes between them. They are a formidable team, my guard and my guardian. Sometimes it's as though they plot my safety behind my back.

If I were an enemy, and I started bearing down on you like this," he draws his sword, stretches the tip towards me, takes a single step in my direction, "what would you do?" Possibilities race through my head. Should I look for a weapon? Dodge and come up behind his guard? Trip him? Insult his mother?

I've come so far, but in some ways, I haven't gone any distance. I'm still hiding from bad men. I'm still trying to figure how to make my own way, my own fortune.

He had failed to kill the light within himself because it had been all around him all along. In Rey. His mother. Even…his father.

Has not God chosen those who are pained in this world to inherit his paradise? For it is through suffering we understand our need for his righteous right hand. Indeed, our spiritual needs outweigh our physical ones. Blessed be the name of God.

I think sometimes when we find love we pretend it away, or ignore it, or tell ourselves we're imagining it. Because it is the most painful kind of hope there is.

I don't care if it's Twilight or Fifty Shades or War and Peace - Never let someone make you ashamed of what you love to read!

Even if they were trained fighters, they'd likely be as pathetic as the rest of Joya d'Arena's military."
"Our pathetic military defeated yours in a single battle," I snap, before remembering that Storm is probably goading me for personal amusement.
"No, my dear Queen, you did," he says. "You and your Godstone.

The Missouri men are snakes," I whisper to Jeff. "The lot of them."
"Men are men," he says with a shrug. "It's men thinking other men are snakes that's the problem.

They're still warm, and I burrow into my pillows, catching the faint scent of rosewater. Truly, my bed is the greatest place in the world.

Every place there's people, there's badness.

Harsh winds, rough seas, still hearts.

I need to marry Hector

Words. I think sometimes when we find love we pretend it away, or ignore it, or tell ourselves we're imagining it. Because it's the most painful kind of hope there is. It can be ripped away so easily. By indifference. By death.

I want to feel the victory of being desired by someone I once found desirable.

I love you, too," he whispers in my ear. "Wholly. Madly."
"Does that mean you'll marry me?"
"I suppose.

Mara hurries over and takes my hands. "Er, congratulations on your pending nuptials?"
I whisper, "He'll be so angry when he learns I have engaged us without his knowledge.

I crouch hidden among the boulders, my body broken and bloodied. Below me, someone is about to murder my best friend, the one person who understands me. If I act, I will likely lose my own life. If I don't, I'll lose so much more ...

That queen of yours played me like a vihuela, didn't she?

My home is not a place; it's people.

Elisa, tell me truly. Have you attained that kind of power? The kind that would frighten an animagus?"
"I have."
Her eyes widen and her lips part. She says to Storm, "You always speak truly, yes?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"You are also an animagus, are you not?"
"I am."
"And you believe my sister has the kind of power she claims?"
"No," he says. "She is being modest.

He is never far, and every time I glance in his direction, I see huge brown eyes lingering on me, bright with feeling. He is aware of me in a way Alejandro never was, and it gives me a little thrill each time I notice him noticing me.

Her Skywalker legacy would go to Rey, Organa to Poe, and she would try one last time to pass her Solo legacy to her son.

I scuff the toe of my boot through the dirt, uncovering pine needles and half-rotted leaves shed by the cottonwood looming over me. My dirt, I think. My land.

I cover his hand with my own: "The Champion must not waver," he says in my ear. "Yea, though SHE pass through the shadow of darkness, SHE shall not fear, for God's righteous right hand shall sustain her and give her new life triumphant.

From the base of the South Pass, a twisty road leads up the Rocky Mountains. It's a well-earned name, because the steep slopes are covered in giant rocks split open and turned on edge every which way, like God started a quarry and got distracted

I should have let you bust Frank Dilley's nose," I say.

"That would have made things worse," he says.

"But it would have been a pleasure to watch.

Later, when we've found this mysterious ship of Hector's and are safely away, when I have time to rest and worry and a quiet corner to hide in, I will coldly remember that being a queen means being strategic. And I will imagine sending off the man I love to marry my sister. I'll rehearse it in my head, maybe. Get used to the feeling.