Susan Dennard Quotes

and she and the mare set off after Safi.

The holiest always have the farthest to fall.

How could I dream when I knew I could act instead.

Share the glory, share the blame.

And together we wept on. For all we had fought.
For all we had given up.
And for all we were never meant to lose.

No more stalemates because they thought her unqualified and unhinged.
No more tiptoeing around a room because women oughtn't to run. To shout. To rule.
And above all: no more blighted regrets.

He wiped his face on his shoulder, then offered Iseult his hand.

She clasped it tight, her fingers lacing between his. Together they ran.

He was younger than Iseult had imagined. No older than twenty, if she had to guess. Yet he felt old, with his voice so gruff. His language so formal.
It was in the way he carried himself too, as if he'd walked for a thousand years and planned to walk a thousand more.

Eleanor," Daniel said. "Miss Fitt! Wake up!"
I fluttered my eyelids open. "I'm not a misfit anymore," I rasped. "I thought I told you that.

People with different aims could always be pitted against one another.

Though we are safe with our friends near, we are safest with our enemies nearer.

That's a very comforting response, Oliver. Of course I can trust you implicitly when all you care about is using me for your own designs.

They aren't for disguise at all. You just didn't want to leave behind your favorite book.

Is that what you think I am? All this time, and you still haven't sorted it out? Why am I surprised? You didn't notice me when we were on the Jana. You couldn't even remember my name back then, so why should I expect you to understand - to see me for what I am now!

Who betrays whom first.

Why do you hold a razor in one hand?
So men remember that I am sharp as any edge.
And why do you hold broken glass in the other?
So men remember that I am always watching.

Stasis, Iseult det Midenzi told herself for the thousandth time since dawn. Stasis in your fingers and in your toes.

There was no heaven here. Eternal life meant waking up as a putrid corpse.

A figure in white coalesced behind the Firewitch. She walked stiffly, her hands extended and her eyes rolled back in her head. The salamander cloak's fire-flap covered half her face. Ash coated her brow.

Aeduan didn't know how the Threadwitch was here. He didn't know why either. He only knew he couldn't look away.

The Threadwitch walked, each step evenly spaced, to the Firewitch. He was a monster fully cleaved now, yet when he wriggled and snarled at Iseult, she showed no fear. No reaction at all.

Instead, she lowered the fire-flap on the salamander cloak, then with her mouth stretched wide … she snapped her teeth at the air.

The Firewitch collapsed. Dead.

I guard the light-bringer,
And protect the dark-giver.
I live for the world-starte,
And die for the shadow-ender.
My blood, I offer freely.
My Threads, I offer wholly.
My eternal soul belongs to no one else.
Claim my Aether.
Guide my blade.
From now until the end.

This was not the Threadwitch who had cornered Aeduan beside a bear trap. Nor the Threadwitch who'd sparred with him that very morning. This was a woman changed.
Aeduan knew because he'd been there before himself. Soon she would learn - just as he had - that there was no outrunning the demons of one's own creation.

Oh, I know!" Safi clapped her hands, delighted by her own genius. "I shall call you Un-empressed."
"Please," Vaness said coldly, "stop this immediately."
Safi absolutely did not.

Iseult hated herself for that truth, but there it was. She wanted to go after Safi; she wanted Aeduan to lead the way; she wished this child would simply disappear.
Monster, she told herself. You're a monster.

And if I don't answer... Then what?... Oh, no. Someone protect me from the bad man with a knife. - Admiral Kahina

Take the god's gift. Become the Fury.
It was time to become the monster Merik had been all along. No more numbed distance. No more fighting the Nihar temper. Only vicious, hungry heat.
One for the sake of many; vengeance for those he'd lost.

So tell me, Miss Fitt, do you know when your brother will return?"
"No." I wet my lips. "Do you know Elijah?"
He looked off to the right. "I know of your brother."
"Oh?"
"Of course." He folded his arms over his chest and returned his gaze to me. "Everyone knows of the Philadelphia Fitts.I even know of you."
"You mean Allison told you about me."
His lips twitched. "Certainly."
I stroked my amethysts and made my expression passive. I didn't care one whit about her gossip-though I did wish she wouldn't talk about me to Clarence. I'd prefer if eligible young men learned my faults after meeting me.
He flashed his eyebrows playfully, as if knowing where my thoughts had gone. "You needn't worry. She's said nothing unkind. She finds you amusing-she likes to talk, you know?"
"I hadn't noticed," I said flatly. Saying Allison loved to gossip was like saying birds enjoyed flying. It was not so much a hobby as part of her physiology.
Clarence's smile expanded, and his eyes crinkled. "Apparently there was an insult you gave her a few days ago, though...She had to ask me what it meant."
My face warmed, and I looked away. "I believe I might have called her a spoiled Portia with no concept of mercy."
He laughed and hit his knee. "That's right. Portia's speech on mercy in the final act of The Merchant of Venice. Allie had no idea what you meant."
"In my defense, she was taunting me-"
"With no mercy?"
"Something like tha

And do all Hell-Bards waddle like a duck, or is it just you?

We will need to move fast. Are you up for that?"
She snorted, and when Aeduan glanced back, he found her face had softened. The slightest - almost imperceptible - glint of mischief hovered there now.
"I think we both know the answer to that, Bloodwitch." She stalked past him, her chin high. Challenging. "The question will be if you can keep up."
Then she broke into a run, Aeduan broke into a run after her.

Don't think I'll look after you, though-the world would be better off with one less princess."
"I'm not a princess," I huffed, beating my brain for some worthy retort.
"A queen then?"
"No! That's not what I meant-"
"Oh, an empress. I see. Pardon me, Your Majesty." He swooped into a crouched bow, and when his torso sprang back up,a smile floated at the edge of his lips.
"N-no, not an empress either. I-I'm just ... " The more I stuttered, the more pompous his smile became.
"You're exasperating," I finally groaned.

He was caught, like the man from the tale who wanted to feed his family during a blizzard, but could not bear to kill the lamb. In the end, everyone died of starvation, including the lamb. For Lady Fate makes all men choose eventually. Even Bloodwitches.

The fault is not in our stars," I whispered to the ceiling. "But in ourselves. This was my choice.

Don't pet the cat that's had a bath.

Before Nubrevna, it had been Dalmotti. Before Dalmotti, it had been Marstok. For centuries, this peninsula had changed hands, and for centuries, no one had ever fully won - or ever fully lost.

Paths do not come to you. You have to find them for yourself, and sometimes, you have to carve new ones entirely.

I trust you as if my soul were yours.

Someone's magic was cleaving.

No rage, no hate, no love, no past. Just now.

Safi was beyond anger. Beyond temper. This was her life now - forever running, forever changing hands from one enemy to the next until eventually the enemy severed her neck. It had been inevitable, really. Her magic had cursed her from the day she was born.

Until at last, they could pause and let the arrows fall harmlessly around them.

I can still make a fist, and breath still burns in my chest. So look at my face. Look at my mortal soul, and remember it. You did not crush me, and you will have the rest of eternity to think on it.

The world shivered and smeared before him. Still, his training took over. With his free hand, he checked that his baldric was still in place. The knives ready for the grabbing.
Then he readied his stance, for though blood might burn, Aeduan's soul would not.

Well, Safi was calling horse shit on that. She didn't lack initiative - she was initiative.

I can't believe she listened to you." I turned a wide-eyed gaze on Clarence.
A grin tugged at his lips. "Yes, I imagine I'm the only person she'll listen to."
"Well,I'm impressed." A warmth eased through my body. Despite his perfect features, he was not so difficult to talk to.
"No doubt you'd do the same with your brother."
"Not precisely." I smiled ruefully. "To be honest, I don't take orders well."
"Then I shall be sure I never give you any.

The shanty soon ended, but Ryber kept pounding the drum and hollered, "'The Maidens North of Lovats!'" - which Merik knew was her favorite song, since she was a maiden from north of Lovats.

Weasels piss on you, Iz. I'm not done yet.

The air, the sky, the water - it was so much like their encounter two nights ago.
Yet also nothing like it at all. Iseult and the Bloodwitch had been enemies then, bound only by coins. Tonight, they were allies bound by … Well, Iseult didn't know precisely.

Dead grass is awakened by fire,
dead earth is awakened by rain.
One life will give way to another,
the cycle will begin again.

There were advantages to being a dead man.

Unbidden, a memory stirred in the back of Aeduan's mind. Another child, another basket, another lifetime, and a monk named Evrane, who had saved him from it all.
Evrane's mistake. She should have left Aeduan behind.

He feeds off their fear and fans it to flames.

Someone owed Aeduan a life-debt. It was …
A first.
A first that he didn't know how to swallow. The Threadwitch Iseult was alive because he had made it so. She could breathe her current breaths and could taste the river's water because he had saved her life.
Though she had also, in a way, saved his. First, she had not killed him while he lay unconscious in the bear trap. And second, she had been the one to hook them to that stone before the Falls.
But Aeduan decided not to mention any of this, for if the Threadwitch believed she owed him three lives, then that gave him an advantage. That, he could use. He didn't know how, he didn't know when, only that he absolutely would.

that you have learned how to work a button.

Never had Safi seen so many furled sails. Or circling sea gulls.
Cursed birds.

This was my true path. One without structure, without Sight or guarantee or anyone at my side to help me forge ahead. Yet I knew what mattered most, and I would do whatever it took to get there.

Run, my child, run.

There was pain too, though Aeduan could ignore that. After all, pain was nothing new.

Merik turned away, pretending not to hear. Not to care. But the truth was, he did hear and he did care.

My feet hurt, Hell-Bard."
"Good for you."
"My wrists hurt too."
"Fascinating."
... "You're a bastard.

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You are strong and independent, I told myself as I unlocked the door. Capable and clever. No males needed.

You've been there all along, Bloodwitch. Somewhere, l-lurking. You are the reason I had to go to my tribe - which means you are the reason Corlant c-c-could attack. So if I had never met you, then would I even be here right now?"
"If I had never met you," he countered coolly, "then my spine would never have snapped, and Leopold fon Cartorra would never have hired me. Monk Evrane would not have almost died.

Mountain bats, those massive serpentine creatures of myth. Those ancient scavengers of the battlefield.

How long have you been standing here?"
"Only a moment." I fluttered my lashes. I am as innocent as a baby bird, I tried to say with my eyes.
"Really." He spoke it as a statement, and frowned. "You know, eavesdropping is most unladylike."
My jaw dropped. "Eavesdropping? I was doing no such thing."
"No?"
"Certainly not, Mr. Wilcox. And false accusations are most un ... most un-manly-like." The retort was a stuttered failure, but I puffed out my chest anyway. "What were you doing outside?"
"Getting fresh air."
My eyebrows shot up as if to say "Really?" He squinted at me, and I glowered back.

Iron might weep, but it did not break.

So,Miss Fitt," Clarence said once we turned onto a tree-lined road beside the river, "you are no doubt wondering why I invited you out."
I swatted the ribbon from my eyes. "And here I assumed it was my unsurpassable good looks."
He chuckled. "That was, of course, part of my motivation."
"Only part?" I slid my gaze left and watched him from the corner of my eye. "Well then,the rest of your reason must be that bribe you mentioned the other evening."
"Something like that.

Miss Fitt, you know curiosity gets men killed."
I grinned. "Then I daresay it's good I'm a woman.

Then the earth boomed beneath her. It crunched and rocked, lifting her like a mother carries a child. All the way out of the water. All the way back to shore. Then the stones dropped Iseult into Aeduan's arms.

But there was no reason. There never had been. He was just a child, trapped in the wreckage of war. He had not done this, he had not caused this. Yet he had lost his life to it all the same.

Two girls who'd once shared tea and gossip were now bound together by death.

You think you're so selfless, you think you're working to save everyone, but what if you're going about it all wrong? At least when I live as a boy, no one gets hurt. But you pretendin' to be a martyr? Pretending to be the Fury? That hurts everyone.

She already fought so hard to separate herself from her emotions - if she got rid of her thoughts too, what would be left?

Then her Truthwitchery exploded - a coating, scraping sensation against her neck that heralded wrongness.

It was what the Moon Mother had told the Nomatsi people when she guided them out of the war-filled far east. It was what parents said to their children when they kissed them good night. It was what Heart-Threads said in their mariagge wows.

Mhe verujta. It was the most sacred of Nomatsi phrases - a phrase that meant trust me as if my soul were yours.

Mama forbade me to attend the Exhibition after an over-heating spell, yet she insisted I gallivant in the park in the midafternoon sun. I almost wanted to pass out again just to spite her.

I'll be fine, Safi. You forget that I taught you the art of evisceration.'
Safi scoffed, but her Threads flared with with amused pink. 'Is that so, dear Threadsister? Have you already forgotten that it was me they called The Great Eviscerator back in Veñaza City?' Safi flung a dramatic hand high as she twirled toward Ryber.
Now Iseult didn't have to fake a grin. 'Is that what you thought they said?' she called. 'It was actually The Great Vociferator, Safi, because that mouth of yours is so big.

And there it was - that was who she was. Split right down the middle, she bore her father's strength, her father's drive. She carried her mother's compassion, her mother's love for Nubrevna.

I hate this. Both the storm and the plan. Why does it have to be 'we'? Why not just me?"
"Because 'just me' isn't who we are," Iseult hollered back. "I'll always follow you, Safi, and you'll always follow me. Threadsisters to the end.

It wasn't freedom she wanted. It was belief in something - a prize big enough to run for and to fight for and to keep on reaching toward no matter what.

Safi snatched the other side of his shirt. These go inside these.

It was time to make amends. Time to bring justice to the wronged. Time to bring punishment to the wicked.

It was incredible to watch. Inhuman, really, this gift to heal one's body. The power of the Void. The power of a demon.
Yet when Iseult glanced at the Bloodwitch's sleeping, dirt-streaked face, she didn't see a demon lying limp before her.

Merik swiveled his wrists slowly. At night, the temple was too dark to see the blood dripping from his arms, pooling on the granite flagstones. He felt it falling, though. Just as he felt the new, burned flesh on his hands stretching beneath torn gloves.
Yet even as pain shivered through his body, he couldn't help but think: Only a fool ignores Noden's gifts. For if Merik looked at this case of mistaken identity from the just the right angle, it could in fact all be seen as boon.
The assassin in the night. The fire on the Jana. The attack of a Waterwitch in Pin's Keep. Each event had led Merik here, to Noden's temple. To a fresco of the god's left hand.
To the Fury.
Twice now, he'd been mistaken for that monstrous demigod, and twice now, it had worked in Merik's favor. So why not continue using the fear invoked from that name? Was Merik not doing the Fury's work by bringing justice to the wronged and punishment to the wicked? It was clear that Nubrevnans needed Merik's help, and his sister Vivia…Well, she was stil out there. Alive. Wretched.
So was it not Merik's moral duty to keep her off the throne? And he could do that if he could just prove she had indeed tried to kill him - that it was she who'd purchased that prisoner from Vizer Linday, and she who'd sent the prisoner to kill Merik.
Yes. This was right. This was Noden's will. It throbbed in Merik's wounds. It shivered across his scalp and down his raw back.
Take the god's gift. Become

How is that for service? Do you know how many men onboard would kill for the use of a spoon?"
"And do you know," she retorted, "how many men I can kill with a spoon?

She did have regrets. Thousands of them, and the weight was too heavy for her to keep moving. She was a ship that could not sail, for its anchor - its thousands of anchors - locked it to the sea floor.

Her eyelids fluttered open. Aeduan was still observing the fireflies. "Did you make a wish?" she asked, and to her surprise, he nodded. A curt bounce of his head. "What did you wish for?"

He flexed his hands. Then shrugged. "If it comes true, then maybe one day I will tell you.

It was the circle of perfect motion. Of the light-bringer and dark-giver, the world-starter and shadow-ender. Of initiation and completion. It was the symbol of the Cahr Awen. Cahr Awen.

Safi ignored him--he was clearly an idiot

Aeduan didn't contradict her. She was what she was, and fighting one's nature only brought pain. Sometimes death too.

So Merik embraced the rage. He let it course through each of his breaths. Each of his thoughts. He could use the anger to help his hungry city. To protect his dying people.
For although the holiest might fall - and Merik had fallen far, indeed - they could also claw their way back up again.

Allow me to serve you, Safiya. We have spent too many years apart." "And I have spent too many hours between meals." A glare. "Give it to me now, Polly, or I shall castrate you with a fork.

The Airwitch had gone from reading nothing in his life to never stopping, buying every novel or history book he could get his hands on.

If you wanted to, Safiya, you could bend and shape the world.

Curiosity is a strong fire, and once ignited, it is not easily put out.

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."
"And the foolish can cite Shakespeare.

The bond forms from respect and shared experience, and though attraction can sometimes play its part, it is not necessary. Love is love and is the most powerful connection we humans have.

It's Admiral Nihar," the prince corrected. "At least while we're at sea, Aunt Evrane."
"Is that so?" the monk asked calmly. "In that case, it is Monk Evrane. At least while we're at sea.

Nothing negated beauty faster than boredom.

I brandished my parasol at him like a rapier. You, sir, are an abominable scalawag of a man, and I'll be damned if I let you threaten me.

Where's your hair?" she shouted. "And what happened to your arm?"
"Cut my hair and got shot with an arrow!"
"Gods below, Iseult! A few hours away and your whole life tumbles through the hell-gates!"
"I might say the same to you," Iseult shouted back - though it was getting hard to scream and ride. "Four opponents on your tail and a ruined dress!

Sitting still is a quick path to madness, she reminded herself - as if this might explain the trembling.

Fool brother Filip led blind brother Daret
deep into the black cave.
He knew that inside it, the Queen Crab resided
but that didn't scare him away.

Said blind brother Daret to fool brother Filip,
does Queen Crab no longer reign?
I have heard she is vicious, and likes to eat fishes.
It's best we avoid her domain.

Answered fool Filip to his brother small,
have I not always kept you safe?
I know what I'm doing, for I'm older than you,
and I'll never lead you astray.