Sarah K.L. Wilson Quotes

Maybe it's time you explained yourself, Dark Prince," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "If I'm going to keep your secrets then I think it's time that you shared them with me.

What a strange time we lived in where tragedy and uncertainty swept up common people like me and the most uncommon person in the world in the same moment.

Tragedy and uncertainty are both things of which no one is immune. Not even dragons.

Now that the mess is sorted out, I have urgent business to return to."

"I thought you were playing cards?" Ephretti said, surprise on her face.

"Precisely.

I'm not going to break. Just because I broke before doesn't mean that I'm fragile.

I was losing friends too quickly, whether by having them stolen or by having them give up on me. It was a terrible feeling.

I'm determined not to be any less than someone with two working legs."

"If only people didn't all have to rub that crippled leg in my face as if it were a sin. That's the part that bothers me the most. I didn't do anything wrong – something wrong happened to me.

And then what?

"And then I will show you a trick that dragons have."

A tiny flicker of hope sprang to life in my heart.

"Oh, it should be more than a flicker. Haven't you heard? We dragons can light anything ablaze.

We were the Colors of our dragons whether we lived or died. There were no other choices for us.

Every time you see me, I'm broken," he admitted, twisting his fingers together. He looked like he'd exposed his heart and offered me a dagger. What did he think? That I judged him?

"Leng," I said gently, hobbling to where he was. "I will always be broken. It doesn't make me weak. When I see you hurt it doesn't make you weak.

Dragons do not count," the Magika said. And that was the problem, wasn't it? Because Dragons did count and anyone who thought otherwise was deeply flawed and completely untrustworthy.

Like I said, there are layers. People might agree with the principles but there's more to it. Maybe they finally find a place with the true believers – a place they never had before with anyone else. Maybe the ideals, while not that important to them, open up paths to success or honor that weren't open to them before. Maybe they get power they didn't have. Maybe it just makes them feel good to rub other people's faces in the dirt or feel like they're somehow in the right or cleverer than their neighbors, or to rebel – not against anything, just to rebel in general. People are strange. In that buzz of thoughts and wants any one thing could be the controlling impulse that launches them down a path you can't turn back from.

Then what of Savette? She's still too full of magic. What about Rakturan? Your comrades will happily kill him if you don't stop them. What about Hubric? Did you not swear to him? None of us can do everything, spider. Crushing yourself under responsibilities that aren't yours is not wise.

Enkenay is different. He's more than a normal dragon now.

Good. Because we were going to need more than normal the way things were headed. We were going to need everyone to be extraordinary.

You could repay it by treating your life with value. Every time I see you, you're risking it for something!"

He shrugged. "I'm a Dragon Rider. We hold our lives with open hands."

It seemed like a terrible way to guard something so precious.

You're going to eat yourself alive. Like Draakuna who bit off his own tail, and finding that he tasted very good, quickly devoured the rest of himself.

I really hoped that was some sort of dragon legend and not something true. It sounded awful.

No more awful than what you're doing to yourself. Set it aside. Raise your chin high. You are Amel Leafbrought, rider of Raolcan the Purple. Your value does not lie in your leg.

"Born high on the mountain,
Blazing bright under the sun's demise,
Twice blind but still seeing,
The only bulwark against the dark
Watch as the arches declare
Dominion of Light."

Don't worry, spider. I will never let your heart break. Not over anything. We will find your friend.

We each make our own decisions and we stand or fall by the truth of them.

Not everyone is willing to break the rules and customs like I am. But I say that customs are made to serve us, we are not made to serve customs.

But if everyone thought that way there would be lawlessness.

I'd flame anyone else who disobeyed our customs. That's only for me.

What did you do for a friend who had been through what she had?"

"You're doing it. She needs support and a listening ear. Give her that and the ragged edges will start to heal. The other part, though ... that I'm not sure about.

In our lands, the prophesies say:
'Offered then denied,
Bride of Morning,
Dark's only hope of peace.
A deal with death he strikes,
And from his mouth springs truth
To save the morning light.'

Revenge wasn't what I had in mind. Protection was."

"We can only do what is in our power to achieve."

"In that case, we were going to have to find more power.

Honors, just like difficulties, were to be faced with courage and strength.

It would be so much easier if I could just be a student instead of always a pawn in a bigger game – and I had no illusions. I was no center of the storm. I was no rook or bishop. I was a pawn and nothing more.

Maybe you misunderstood."

"Maybe you have more enemies than you think.