I was meant for the purpose of betraying the High Court. Never to survive past that. If I am the cause of Lady Nore’s fall, it will give me all the more pleasure for her never having anticipated it.
Let me be feared and never again afraid.
Hole in the head, hole in the heart, or hole in the pocket. The Hall family curse.
I didn’t understand the horror of being so powerful and so utterly powerless all at the same time.
I have seen this place so many times in my night terrors that, even half-demolished, I cannot help but feel like I am in another awful dream.
I may be rotten, but my one virtue is that I’m not a killer. I wanted to frighten you, but I never wanted you dead. I never wanted anyone dead.
He no longer had a sense of up or down. One was always suspended, fighting against the current or giving in to it.
If he gets himself killed like this, she is never going to let him live it down.
I am nothing if not dramatic.
I’m afraid I may have set one of the guests on fire.
There are rumours that Cardan never wanted the throne, that he will hand it over to Oak willingly at some vague future time. But when I think of High King Cardan with his black curls and cruel mouth, the way he behaves- silly and dangersome all at once- I don’t believe he would relinquish power. He might, however, trick Oak into going on a quest he wouldn’t return from. Build him up with stories of honour and valiant deeds.
And then I had to learn how to be a person all the time. I tried to be, for you.
Oak makes a low moan and tries to sit up. ‘Jude,’ he mutters. ‘Jude, we can’t just let him die.
The prince opens his tawny fox eyes and looks around. When he sees me, he slumps back down, as though relieved that I am still here.
I keep thinking of the lazy blink of Cardan’s lashes over his coal-bright eyes. He looked gleeful, gloating, as though my fist tightening on his shirt was exactly what he would have wished. As though, if I struck him, it would be because he had made me do it.
I am used to the whipped-cream-topped drinks Vivi used to bring me, but there is something satisfyingly bracing about drinking coffee this way, hot and bitter.
Fix your hair,′ she says, then shrugs again. ‘Or make it wilder. You look lovely either way.
She looks incandescent with joy, his attention the light in which her beauty shines especially bright.
Pain makes you strong... Get used to the weight.
Cardan glances toward me, as though for help. When I am silent, he frowns, annoyed with both of us. ‘Although I am wearing the cloak Mother Marrow made me, the one that will turn any blade, I still promise to run, tail between my legs. And since I have a tail, that should be amusing for everyone. Are you satisfied?