Ahren Quotes

I could not hold my breath for seven minutes. I couldn't even make it to one. I once tried to run a mile in seven minutes after hearing some athletes could do it in four but failed spectacularly when a side stitch crippled me about halfway in.
However, there was one thing I managed to do in seven minutes that most would say is quite impressive: I became queen.
By seven tiny minutes I beat my brother, Ahren, into the world, so the throne that ought to have been his was mine. Had I been born a generation earlier, it wouldn't have mattered. Ahren was the male, so Ahren would have been the heir.
Alas, Mom and Dad couldn't stand to watch their firstborn be stripped of a title by an unfortunate but rather lovely set of breasts. So they changed the law, and the people rejoiced, and I was trained day by day to become the next ruler of Illéa. ~ Kiera Cass

Do not eat of this world,
she warned as I left,
unless you are willing to suffer. ~ Justen Ahren

I'm happy, Ahren. I'm a princess. I have everything."
"I think you're mistaking comfort for joy. ~ Kiera Cass

Night

Night came, sirens.
Dark and breathless, it came
with the limp shape of my mother in its arms./
In its white coat, it came with her from the bath/
laid her on the floor in the hall./
It struck her blue mouth
forced the metal of its own mouth over the water of hers./
It blew into her again
and again. It said, Stay.
It asked her name.

Morning came.
Tender it came
as tender as the one before.
It brought walls
and the doors of the house stood swinging open and closing upon our secrets/
for everyone to see. For days,
I slept with the words
I'd heard her singing in the tub
Hello, darkness. ~ Justen Ahren

I fully believed my current state was not my fault, not even in the slightest. I knew who to point the finger at, and they were all other Schreaves. I blamed Mom and Dad for not being able to get the country under control and forcing me into this situation, and I blamed Ahren for trying to get me to consider these boys in the first place. ~ Kiera Cass

Ahren grunted, holding his hand. "That hurts! Ow, that really hurts! ~ Kiera Cass