The Winter we know has always been one of our own creation, a kingdom built on dreams. So you’re right, Feige. We’re all Children of the Thaw. Our own hybrid of the past and the future.
Death has a way of finding those who welcome it.
Every moment we have is one more moment that can’t be taken from us.
Actions are always far easier than words.
I may be alone, the stone may not be magic, but I am not weak.
It doesn’t matter what I would do with magic, because leaders are valued for the wrong things.
You don’t know anything, Meira, and I’m sorry if this... is hard for you to accept, but it will happen. You wanted to matter to Winter? This is how Winter needs you.
Loving her was easy, a skill he had picked up methodically until one day he did it without thought.
I close my eyes, back straight, face impassive. When I look, I will see someone capable and composed, a warrior and a leader all in one.
You forgive yourself for what you’ve done,” Edda told her. “You admit mistakes. You learn from them. And you improve.
You’re impossible,” I growl, and rip open the book. Theron laughs and scoots a little closer to me. “Impossible, endearing. Synonyms, really.
Lifetimes have changed in what feels like a heartbeat.
Dendera silences me with a hand on my cheek. “You listen to me, Meira Dynam. Yes, you have made mistakes, but I have watched you succumb to this role over the past few months, and that, I believe, is the biggest mistake you have made. The biggest mistake we all made. We’ve all been afraid, and Meira, you look at me. You saved us. You, this beautiful, wild girl before me – you saved us. So be you again, and whoever that is will be exactly what we need.
I know he sees it, because for the briefest moment he drops his expressionless mask and the look in his eyes shows me he feels the same way. A mirror of every part of myself I can’t bear to face.
There will always be a they in your new life, Meira. They make decisions; they mold your future. The trick is to find a way to still be you through it all.
My sister used to say you could tell a person’s character by what they considered their weaknesses, rather than their strengths.
I can weave threads of myself into a tapestry already designed by others.
What’s rare is to have a good, strong man, as opposed to a good, weak man. Those are the ones who ruin the world. Men who mean well, but buckle under others’ opinions until their good intentions destroy an untold number of lives.” My.
That’s part of freedom too – getting to dream, and knowing it could happen if I want it to.
It’s so cold, every nerve in my body tingling with the wondrous iciness.