Quotes from Holly Black

sprites wearing acorn caps and wielding glaives the size of toothpicks battled above a sea of tiger lilies.

If I am undressed, he will know me.

What would I become if I sttoped worrying about death, about pain, about anything? If I stopped trying to belong?

I will serve up delights you've never imagined,' Locke's smile is infectious. He will serve up trouble, that's for sure. Trouble I have no time for. 'Have a care,' I say, drawing Locke's attention to me for the first time. 'I am sure you would not wish to insult the High King's imagination.' 'Indeed, I'm sure not,' Cardan says in a way that's difficult to interpret.

You know, until this trip, I thought I liked the cold. One can dress extravagantly when there's no risk of sweating- brocades, gold trims, hats. But I am reevaluating.' ... I roll my eyes. 'You have an understated elegance, so no need to worry about weather.

But I'm done with being weak. I'm done with being good. I think I'm going to be something else

I think of all the good things that come from someone knowing you well enough to understand your hopes and fears.

It had a pale body and crept on all fours, with claws as long as one of her fingers.

What do you want?' I ask, digging in my pockets. I take out the swan-shaped scissors I stole from Habetrot. 'These are pretty.' 'Put them away,' he scoffs. 'It would be an insult to be stabbed by those.' 'Then do not court that fate,' I growl softly...

She made her voice as firm as possible. "Don't let them catch you." He hesitated, clearly surprised by her words. Then he smiled again, inclining his head in a shallow bow, acknowledging everything she'd left unsaid. "Traveling with you was a delight worth any delay, but I can delay no longer.

Hollow Hall is a stone manor with a tall, crooked tower, the whole thing half-covered in vines and ivy. There's a balcony on the second floor that seems to have a rail of thick roots in place of iron. A curtain of thinner tendrils hangs down from it, like a scraggly beard clotted with dirt. There is something misshapen about the estate that ought to make it charming but instead makes it ominous.

He was nice in the carriage. I didn't know he knew how to be nice.' That makes me laugh. At the door to my chambers, she puts her hand on my arm. 'He was trying to impress you, you know. Talking to me.' I frown. 'I think he just wanted to hear about weird candy.' She shakes her head. 'He wants you to like him. But just because he wants you to doesn't mean you should.

But my heart keeps beating harder, and I shrink into myself, as though if I am still enough, anxiety will stop gnawing on my insides.

Have you ever heard that virtue is its own reward?' Cardan says pleasantly. 'That's because there's no other reward in it.

I remember you,' says the door. 'My prince's lady.' 'You're mistaken,' I say. 'Seldom.' The door swings open with a slight creak that indicates disuse. 'Hail and welcome.

Nicasia's wrong about me. I don't desire to do as well in the tournament as one of the fey. I want to win. I do not yearn to be their equal. In my heart, I yearn to best them.

It feels like a geas. It has all the sinister pleasure of sneaking out of the house, all the revolting satisfaction of stealing. It reminds me of the moment before I slammed a blade through my hand, amazed at my own capacity for self-betrayal.

I assume you forgot that your sister's wedding would require a new gown. Or a gown at all." "At least one person is going to be naked," I say

Haven't you watched the feeds?" Winter asked her, more gently. "Vampires like anything and everything that keeps them from getting bored. Anything and everything."

Most of their mother's visits to psychics had been about relationships. The Hall women fell in love like they were falling off a cliff. They were terrible at picking men, as though there were some kind of ancestral curse that started with Nana's marriage to a guy so awful that she was still in prison for shooting him in the back of the head while he was in his BarcaLounger, watching TV.

She was unprepared for how much the way into Coldtown looked like a shoddily run DMV.

When a man tells you he's going to hurt you, believe it. They always warn you and they're always right.

So did you murder Balekin?' Nihuar asks me, clearly able to put off her curiosity no longer. 'Yes,' I say. 'After he poisoned the High King.' 'Poisoned?' she echoes in astonishment, looking at Cardan. He shrugs, lounging in a chair, looking bored as ever. 'You can hardly expect me to mention every little thing.

In that moment, I hated him for being so precious to them, for being cosseted and treated as though he was deserving of protection when I had none. Maybe I still hate him a little. But he was kind when we were children. It's possible there's a part of him that's still kind.