Cinda Williams Chima
Raisa felt relieved, yet oddly disappointed. She was the blooded princess heir, yet in servants' clothes she was apparently unrecognizable. In the stories, rulers had a natural presence about them that identified them as such, even dressed in rags. What's the nature of royalty, she wondered. Is it like a gown you put on that disappears when you take it off? Does anyone look beyond the finery? Could anyone in the queendom take her place, given the right accessories? If so, it was contrary to everything she'd ever been taught about bloodlines.Collection: Princess
He swept Raisa up into his arms and kissed her like it was his first, last, and onlyCollection: Arms
Just because you're the enemy of my enemy don't mean you're my friend, Han thought.Collection: Mean
I like rough edges. That's what makes a person real.Collection: Real
You look like a boy who has eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge and doesn't like the taste.Collection: Boys
Do not forget duty. But choose love when you can.Collection: Forget
That's what happens when you love someone... you notice and notice and notice.Collection: When You Love Someone
Hope is a dangerous thing, Raisa thought. Once kindled, it's hard to put out. It makes wise people into fools.Collection: Wise
As for my family, my father was Danel; he died as a mercenary in the southern wars," Han went on. "My mother's name was Sarah, called Sali, and my sister was Mari. They died last summer. But then, you already knew that. Every time you forget, I'll remind you. That's the blood sacrifice I made to be here, and that's enough.Collection: Summer
It was a peculiar marriage of interests- Lord Averill and Captain Byrne and Lord Bayar and Han Alister agreeing on anything was as rare as gold in Ragmarket.Collection: Gold
I have to think it's possible to suffer a great wrong and walk away from it. To build a life of small, exquisitely important moments.Collection: Thinking
They were like two pieces of a failed star, drawn together by a shared history and a memory of illicit kisses.Collection: Stars
Crow walked toward her, arms outstretched like a man in a dream, which he was, in a way. Sometimes a dream is enough.Collection: Dream
What kind of love would drive a man for miles through solid rock?Collection: Men
You touch me again, you arrogant Ardenine swine, and I swear on the blood of Hanalea the warrior, I will geld you. Do you understand?Collection: Warrior
It was one of the warm nights at the end of summer that makes promises that won't be kept.Collection: Summer
Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead. "Don't you die. don't you dare. I forbid it." As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said.Collection: Sleep
Leicester stared fixedly at the image before him, the color bleached from his face by its brilliance. Seph sensed the headmaster's mind questing out, trying to discover and destroy the wizard behind the image, but finding nothing, no trail of magic, no stone, no flesh and blood to focus on. Jason Haley, the puppeteer, was safely ensconced in the gallery above.Collection: Blood
Commander! Sir! Wake up!" Jack surfaced from sleep, wondering who the commander was and wishing he'd respond so he could go back to sleep - until he remembered that he was the commander.Collection: Sleep
The time will come when you will be forced to make a choice,” Hanalea said. “When that time comes, choose love.Collection: Choices
One more thing: Linda, can you get to Canterbury and take over my Chaucerian Society? They're at Dovecote Hostelry in the old city. We're visiting all the scenes of the great murders. Tomorrow they want to see where Becket was killed. They're a bloodthirsty lot, it seems.Collection: Cities
Did the destruction of one dream leave a vacuum that required filling with another? Is a broken heart more vulnerable?Collection: Dream
He keeps this up, he's bound to be caught, she thought. And this time they'll dangle him for certain.Collection: Certain
Both Averill and Bayar were like actors speaking lines for their audience and not to each other.Collection: Actors
She had never felt more alive than when she lay dying in Han Alister's arms.Collection: Dying
Which is a sad thing when you're only seventeen.Collection: Seventeen
And it's not just a matter of you hurting me. I will hurt you too, even if I don't want to, I'm not the girl you think I am. And you will remember this conversation , and wish that you'd listened to me.Collection: Girl
But it's not enough to know right from wrong. You need the strength to do what's right, even when what you want most in the world is the wrong thing.Collection: Life
For Hanalea the Warrior!Collection: Warrior
Well now, Jack," Hastings said from the sidelines. "I'm afraid you've been beheaded. Not a good start." He sounded amused.Collection: Said
Outside the Weirwall, Jack could hear the thud of bodies colliding and the cries of the wounded. It seemed like a lot of noise. Even given the fact that Ellen was involved. "Why'd she go out there?" Jack demanded. "Why didn't you stop her?" Brooks spat on the ground. "Have you ever tried to stop Captain Stephenson from anythin'?Collection: Body
I need to go to parties, Raisa mused, so I don't think so much.Collection: Party
Fitch is on his way. He's coming after he blows up some wizards.Collection: Blow
Sometimes you have to go somewhere else to appreciate what we have here.Collection: Somewhere Else
Han made no effort to put up a brave front. Most of the time he just screamed himself hoarse, though a couple of times he amused himself by screaming Fionas's name as if he were in the throes of passion. FEEE-OHHH-NAAA! Lord Bayar made him pay for that, but afterward, Fiona didn't come down anymore, which Han appreciated.Collection: Couple
And they always slept better with blades beneath their beds.Collection: Bed
More and more, there were no revelations, but simply the uncovering of truths long known but dimly remembered. Everything had been written long ago. There was nothing truly new in the world, but only the slow, circular march of time that revealed the old things once again.Collection: Long Ago
Well, I believe she went in to rescue some Raggers from the pits,” Cuffs said. “She wasn’t all that specific.” “She went in to rescue — why would she do that?” Amon gripped the ironwork, studying the streetlord’s face. Was he lying? And if so, what was the purpose? “Guess she’s kind of taken with us,” Cuffs said. “You know, the glamor of the gang life and all. Getting beat up every other day, arrested for crimes you didn’t commit, long nights in gaol, sleeping in the cold and wet. It’s...seductive.” He raised an eyebrow.Collection: Lying
The bluejacket girlie rode like a clan warrior, but there was no way she'd escape. It was a private life-and-death contest that had nothing to do with him. He told himself he should ride on, grateful that the chase would keep them occupied while he took a different path. But what had he told Rebecca when she'd asked what he meant to do when he returned to the Fells? 'I'm tired of people in power picking on the weak. I'm going to help them.Collection: Grateful