Aeduan Quotes

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

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

It was then - at that moment - that it hit Aeduan square in the chest. Iseult was here. Not hunting after the Truthwitch but here, standing tall in a land of smoking embers. Before he could speak, before he could ask her how she knew of the Red Sails, an inhuman shriek filled the air. Louder than the receding rain, louder than the cannons' roar.

It was the mountain bat, returned and plunging right for them.

Aeduan barely yanked Iseult sideways before its talons crashed into the stones. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

Mhe varujta. Trust me as if my soul were yours. ~ Susan Dennard

No one asks for what life gives them ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

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

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. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

Run, my child, run. ~ Susan Dennard

But one need not be evil to become it ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

I trust you as if my soul were yours. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

Which left Aeduan, as always, on the edge of a scene, watching while the world unfolded without him beneath a darkening sky. ~ Susan Dennard

When Aeduan had said he would kill her in Lejna, she hadn't believed him. When he'd said he would kill her last night, she had. ~ Susan Dennard

It is always easier to blame gods or legends than it is to face our own mistakes. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

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

Aeduan." She'd never said his name aloud. She was surprised by how easily it rolled off the tongue.
He looked back, his expression inscrutable as always. But laced with … with something. Hope, she found herself thinking, though she knew it was fanciful.
Aeduan was not the sort of man to ever hope. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

Fireflies."

"What?" Iseult splashed upright. Chill bumps raced down her arms.

"There." Aeduan waved across the pond. "Fireflies. They're good luck in Marstok, I've heard. And children make wishes on them." There was something light to Aeduan's voice, as if he …

"Are you making a joke?" Iseult pushed to her feet. Water droplets splattered across the stone.

"No."

Iseult didn't believe him. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

This girl had fought Aeduan - tricked him and broken his spine. She had battled city guards and faced cleaved Poisonwitches head-on, yet never had Aeduan seen her show fear. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

Because it is always easier to blame gods or legends than it is to face our own mistakes. This land is no more cursed than any other. It is simply steeped in too much blood. ~ Susan Dennard

Who betrays whom first. ~ Susan Dennard

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. ~ Susan Dennard

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

And they fell. Together. ~ Susan Dennard