Darkling Quotes

Dess shook her head. "Before he walked off, Rex said for you to wait. He said it's totally important you don't touch Angie until he comes back. and he said that if you were a pain about it, I get to hit you with that." She pointed to where the darkling had flung Flabbergasted Supernumerary Mathematician, its tip blackened by ichor and fire. "So, go ahead. ~ Scott Westerfeld

Surrender your expectations. Surrender your doubts.
Surrender your fears. Surrender your strengths.
Surrender your anger. Surrender your control. ~ Yasmine Galenorn

Slowly, Genya stood, and silence fell around her. "How old are you, Yuri ?"

"Eighteen, moi soverenyi"

"When i was a year older than you, the Darkling set his mosnters on me, creatures born of the power you venerate so much. They had a taste for human flesh. He had to force them to stop."

"Then he was not so cruel-"

Genya held up a hand, and Nikolai was glad to see Yuri shut is mouth. "The Darkling didn't want me to die. He wante me to live - like this."

"More fool of him,"sais Nikolai quietly, "to let such soldier survive. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I sought Morozova amplifiers for you Alina, so that we can rule as equals ~ Leigh Bardugo

The groves were God's first temple. Ere man learned To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave, And spread the roof above them,
ere he framed The lofty vault, to gather and roll back The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood, Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks And supplication. ~ William C. Bryant

That was indeed to live
at one bold swoop to wrest from darkling death the best that death to life can give. ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

No wonder that the ghost and goblin stories had a new zest. No wonder that the blood of the more timid grew chill and curdled, that their flesh crept, and their hearts beat irregularly, and the girls peeped fearfully over their shoulders, and huddled close together like frightened sheep, and half-fancied they beheld some impish and malignant face gibbering at them from the darkling corners of the old room. By degrees my high spirits died out, and I felt the childish tremors, long latent, long forgotten, coming over me. I followed each story with painful interest; I did not ask myself if I believed the dismal tales. I listened and fear grew upon me - the blind, irrational fear of our nursery days. ("Horror: A True Tale") ~ John Berwick Harwood

He leaned against the window, and the gilded frame came into sharp focus. "Do you think it would be any different with your tracker beside you? With that Lantsov pup?"
"Yes," I said simply.
"Because you would be the strong one?"
"Because they're better men than you."
"You might make me a better man."
"And you might make me a monster. ~ Leigh Bardugo

They're hungry for this, I realized. Even after they've seen what he can do, even after watching their own people die. The Darkling wasn't just offering them an end to war, but an end to weakness. After all these long years of terror and suffering, he would give them something that had seemed permanently beyond their grasp: victory. And despite their fear, they loved him for it. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You want," the Darkling mocked. I want to watch your tracker die slowly with my knife in his heart. I want to let the sea swallow you both. But our fates are entwined now, Alina, and there's nothing either of us can do about that. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The Darkling shrugged. 'Fear ids a powerful ally,' he said. 'And loyal. ~ Leah Bardugo

I've seen what you truly are," said the Darkling, "and I've never turned away. I never will. Can he say the same? ~ Leigh Bardugo

Tell him you see me when he takes you in his arms ~ Leigh Bardugo

He has served countless kings, faked countless deaths, bided his time, waiting for you. ~ Leigh Bardugo

It's called "Caliban At Sunset".' 'What at sunset?' 'Caliban.' He cleared his throat, and began: I stood with a man Watching the sun go down. The air was full of murmurous summer scents And a brave breeze sang like a bugle From a sky that smouldered in the west, A sky of crimson, amethyst and gold and sepia And blue as blue as were the eyes of Helen When she sat Gazing from some high tower in Ilium Upon the Grecian tents darkling below. And he, This man who stood beside me, Gaped like some dull, half-witted animal And said, 'I say, Doesn't that sunset remind you Of a slice Of underdone roast beef?' He ~ P.G. Wodehouse

So many men had tried to make her a queen. Now she understood that she was meant for something more. The Darkling had told her he was destined to rule. He had claimed his throne, and a part of her too. He was welcome to it. For the living and the dead, she would make herself a reckoning. She would rise. ~ Leigh Bardugo

What are you smiling at?"
I whirled, peering into the gloom. The Darkling's voice seemed to float out of the shadows. He walked down to the stream, crouching on the bank to splash water on his face and through his dark hair.
"Well?" he asked, looking up at me.
"Myself," I admitted.
"Are you that funny?"
"I'm hilarious. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You two have a bad habit of acting like fools and calling it heroic. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The sound he'd taken for an engine hum? The rowers chanting while a drummer kept the beat. "Row, row, row the boat, toward the Darkling Sea. And there we'll find some fucking fish, and have a killing spree." Each time they sang a verse, they cheered. A berserker army on its way to glory. ~ Eve Langlais

You don't want to be doing this.
This is the only thing I want to be doing ~ Leigh Bardugo

I've waged the war you forced me to, Alina," said the Darkling. "If you hadn't run from me, the Second Army would still be intact. All those Grisha would still be alive. Your tracker would be safe and happy with his regiment. When will it be enough? When will you let me stop? ~ Leigh Bardugo

The age of Grisha power is coming to an end. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I knew there was no bottom to the Darkling's pain. He would just keep falling and falling. ~ Leigh Bardugo

It is easy to carp at colleges, and the college, if he will wait for it, will have its own turn. Genius exists there also, but will not answer a call of a committee of the House of Commons. It is rare, precious, eccentric, and darkling. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Did you tell him, Alina? Does the boy know how willing you were to give yourself to me? Did you tell him what I showed you in the dark?"
A wave of shame rushed through me and the glowing light faltered. The Darkling laughed. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Don't worry, tracker. You'll know when our deal is up ... I'll be certain you hear it when I make her scream. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You're mad."

"I know it pleases you to think so. ~ Leigh Bardugo

If I may, Miss," Sands said. "What you call 'a mascot' is more what should be termed 'an icon.' A subject not just of morale but of veneration or even worship. These men are United States Marines, yes, and they will continue to do their duty. But they are Marines who have lost everything. Family, friends, buddies, country. We are one and all lost and adrift on a darkling sea. You, Miss Smith, have become not their pin-up girl but their heart and soul. They would follow me into hell. Charge any shore, face any fire. I am their Gunny. That's what Marines do. If you hinted that Satan had a case of ammo you particularly liked, they would charge in without a bucket of water. As Staff Sergeant Januscheitis said when he, separately, brought the idea up: 'The only thing we've got left, Gunny, is Faith. ~ John Ringo

Will you say it?

"Aleksander"

His grin faded and his grey eyes seemed to flicker.

"Again."

"Aleksander ~ Leigh Bardugo

Why waste my anger on you when the fault is mine? I should have anticipated another betrayal from you, one more mad grasp at some kind of childish ideal. But I seem to be a victim of my own wishes where you are concerned." His expression hardened. "What have you come here for, Alina?"
I answered him honestly. "I wanted to see you."
I caught the briefest glimpse of surprise before his face shuttered again. "There are two thrones on that dais. You could see me any time you liked. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Someone to mourn me...No grave...for them to desecrate. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You begged me for clemency once," he called over the dead reaches of the Fold, over the hungry shrieks of the horrors he had made. "Is this your idea of mercy?"
Another bullet hit the sand, only inches from us. Yes, I thought as the power rose up inside me, the mercy you taught me. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I will tell you a story, one I used to tell to a little boy with dark hair. A silent boy who rarely laughs, who listened more closely than I realized. A boy who had a name and not a title ~ Leigh Bardugo

We all have our secrets. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went - and came, and brought no day, ~ Lord Byron

The Darkling just stared out into the waves. I considered shoving him over the railing. Sure, he was hundreds of years old, but could he swim? ~ Leigh Bardugo

I told them you hate herring."
"Why?"
"And that you love plum cake. And that Ana Kuya took a switch to you when you ruined your spring slippers jumping in puddles."
I winced. "Why would you tell them all that?"
"I wanted to make you human," he said. "All they see when they look at you is the Sun Summoner. They see a threat, another powerful Grisha like the Darkling. I want them to see a daughter or a sister or a friend. I want them to see Alina. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You sound just like the Darkling."
"If you ever have trouble telling us apart, look for the person who isn't torturing you or trying to kill Mal. That will be me. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You can't control the Fold. It has to be destroyed."

"Careful, Alina," he said with a slight smile. "I've had the same thought about you. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I will stip away all that you know, all that you love....
Until you have no shelter byt me ~ Leigh Bardugo

I seem to be a victim of my own wishes where you are concerned. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Mal snickered.
"What's so funny?"
"I just pictured the Darkling being cornered by a sweaty duchess trying to have her way with him. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The stag had been showing me my strength-not just the price of mercy but the power it bestowed. And mercy was something the Darkling would never understand. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Redemption," he murmured. "Salvation. Penance. My mother's quaint ideas. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I'm not what you think I am," I whispered desperately.
The Darkling stepped closer to me and said, his voice so low that only I could hear, "I doubt you have any idea what you are. ~ Leigh Bardugo

He'd wanted me to believe in his ruthlessness.
Then I remembered his words from so long ago: Make me your villain. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You live in a single moment. I live in a thousand. ~ Leigh Bardugo

It's true," I said softly. "You are stronger, wiser, infinite in experience." I leaned forward and whispered, my lips brushing the shell of his ear. "But I am an apt pupil. ~ Leigh Bardugo

They ran through the night together in a darkling fairy tale of blood and forests and snow, of girls with raven's wing hair and rose-red lips and sharp teeth as white as milk. ~ Holly Black

With a start, I realized that the room smelled like him. I had never even noticed that he had a scent. I shut my eyes and breathed deeply. What was it? The crisp edge of a winter wind. Bare branches. The smell of absence, the smell of night. ~ Leigh Bardugo

My legs gave way and the Darkling caught me up against his body with one surprisingly strong arm.
"I guess you only look like a mouse," he whispered in my ear, and then beckoned to one of his personal guard. "Take her," he said, handing me over to the oprichnik who reached out his arm to support me. I felt myself flush at the indignity of being handed over like a sack of potatoes, but I was too shaky and confused to protest. Blood was running down my arm from the cut the Darkling had given me. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I've been waiting for you a long time, Alina" He said. "You and I are going to change the world. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I stood there, staring at the closed doors. I reached out and touched the bone handle.
You can fix this, I told myself. You can make this right. But I just stood there, frozen, Mal's words ringing in my ears. I bit down hard on my lip to silence the sob that shook my chest. That's good, I thought as the tears spilled over. That way the servants won't hear. An ache had started between my ribs, a hard, bright shard of pain that lodged beneath my sternum, pressing tight against my heart.
I didn't hear the Darkling move; I only knew when he was beside me. His long fingers brushed the hair back from my neck and rested on the collar. When he kissed my check, his lips were cold. ~ Leigh Bardugo

It's madness, I told myself. He wouldn't dare attempt it. The thought brought me little comfort. He always dared. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The Darkling slumped back in his chair. "Fine," he said with a weary shrug. "Make me your villain. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I didn't have to stand here in the darkling arms. I could vanish from his grip, slide back into consciousness and the safety of a stone room hidden in the mountaintop. But I didn't want to go. Despite, everything, I wanted this whispered confidence .
"Yes." I breathed. ~ Leigh Bardugo

He studied me for a long moment. He had always watched me this way, as if I were an equation that didn't quite tally. ~ Leigh Bardugo

So what do you think of it?" he asked.

I glanced at him, then back at the elaborate facade. It was larger than any building I had ever seen, its terraces crowded with statues, its three stories gleaming with row after row of shining windows, each ornamented extensively in what I suspected was real gold.

"It's very...grand?" I said carefully.

He looked at me, a little smile playing on his lips. "I think it's the ugliest building I've ever seen," he said, and nudged his horse forward. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The darkling plain is here. This is the waste land: England, America, Russia, China, Israel, France....

And we are here as victims, or as spectators, or as perpetrators of tortures, massacres, poisonings, manipulations, despoliation. ~ Fredy Perlman

The problem with wanting," he whispered, his mouth trailing along my jaw until it hovered over my lips, "is that it makes us weak. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I am ancient Alina.
I know things about power that you can barely guess ~ Leigh Bardugo

So a new element darkled in their already darkling mood: a somber, deep-rooted bitterness which would grow and grow until it would make of them - those who survived - the tough, mean, totally cynical infantry fighters which their leaders fondly on sentimental grounds already believed they were, and which all of them, everybody, hated the Japanese for being. ~ James Jones

I've never understood this taste for otkazat'sya. Is it because you thought you were one of them for so long?"
"I had a taste for you, once." His head snapped up. He hadn't expected that. Saints, it was satisfying. ~ Leigh Bardugo

What do you want, Mal?" The room seemed very quiet.
"Don't ask me that."
"Why not?"
"Because it can't be."
"I want to hear it anyway."
He blew out a long breath. "Say goodnight. Tell me to leave, Alina."
"No."
"You need an army. You need a crown."
"I do."
He laughed then. "I know I'm supposed to say something noble
I want a united Ravka free from the Fold. I want the Darkling in the ground, where he can never hurt you or anyone else again." He gave a rueful shake of his head. "But I guess I'm the same selfish ass I've always been. For all my talk of vows and honor, what I really want is to put you up against that wall and kiss you until you forget you ever knew another man's name. So tell me to go, Alina. Because I can't give you a title or an army or any of the things you need. ~ Leigh Bardugo

A decoy," said the Darkling, coming up beside me. "We'll take the southern trails. It's what we should have done in the first place."
"So you do make mistakes," I said without thinking.
He paused in the act of pulling on his gloves, and I pressed my lips together nervously. "I didn't mean - "
"Of course I make mistakes," he said. His mouth curved into a half smile. "Just not often. ~ Leigh Bardugo

And the Darkling?"
"I tried to kill him."
"As one does. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space. ~ George Gordon Byron

When I entered and shut the door, the Darkling gave me a small bow. "How are you, Alina?"
"I'm fine," I managed.
"She's fine!" hooted Baghra. "She's fine! She cannot light a hallway, but she's fine."
I winced and wished I could disappear into my boots.
To my surprise, the Darkling said, "Leave her be."
Baghra's eyes narrowed. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
The Darkling sighed and ran his hands through his dark hair in exasperation. When he looked at me, there was a rueful smile on his lips, and his hair was going every which way. "Baghra has her own way of doing things," he said.
"Don't patronize me, boy!" Her voice cracked out like a whip. To my amazement, I saw the Darkling stand up straighter and then scowl as if he'd caught himself.
"Don't chide me, old woman," he said in a low, dangerous voice. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy! ~ John Keats

The Darkling will hunt you for the rest of your days."
"Then you and I will have something in common, won't we? Besides, I like to have powerful enemies. Makes me feel important."
Mal crossed his arms and considered the privateer. "I can't decide if you're crazy or stupid."
"I have so many good qualities," Sturmhond said. "It can be hard to choose. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I'd like to free you," he said quietly.

"Free me, flay me. So many options. ~ Leigh Bardugo