The Valiant Quotes
"Our chariot raced toward the far end of the Forgotten Vale, and Maelgwyn Ironhand—my charioteer, constant companion, and frequent adversary—pulled back on the reins."
"Carefully, one foot in front of the other, I made my way forward on the draft pole as the horses thundered on."
"The idea was to run out along the narrow pole between the horses of a careening chariot, throw a spear, hit a target, balance for as long as it took for the spear to stay lodged, and then run back to the safety of the chariot deck."
"On the field of battle, you're either a warrior or you're in the way."
"As comforting as my father’s rough laugh or the roaring fire in his great hall."
"Well, if I'm not dreaming, then I suppose I must be dead."
"I realized he really had thought I was hurt."
"Sometimes I wonder if you care more for your sword than for me."
"I watched as Mael’s face clouded over. The feverish moment of our kiss was slipping away."
"And if you ever make me do something as stupid and reckless as that again, I just might kill you, and it won't be by accident!"
"I realized that the warmth I’d felt on my cheek had been his breath."
"A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success!"
"I reached for his hands. 'Just wait a little while, Mael, until I’m a true warrior. We can go to my father then, and we can have everything we ever wanted—together.'"
"I'll show you things you could never have imagined, Fallon. Not even in your dreams."
"And it marked me in just the same way—only now my status was 'slave.'"
"To be a freeman or freewoman was to have status in the tribe. Respect."
"I whispered a prayer over and over again until finally I slipped into a deep, exhausted sleep."
"I’m not the one with the collar around my neck."
"The beauty of its clean, lethal lines still took my breath away."
"The goddess must have laughed at them, I certainly had."
"The first taste of real battle was sweet on my tongue."
"We belong to no one, you and me. Only to each other, until we can find a hammer or a good heavy axe."
"I tried to imagine just what that would look like."
"I wasn’t laughing now as I finally saw with my own eyes the things the trader had spoken of."
"But the people on the road paid us little heed—we were, after all, just one more load of trade goods to be sold in the marketplace in Rome."
"They can think whatever they like. My father’s trading partners lost three ships to bandits in the last month alone."
"The merchants’ guild has been trying to keep the matter quiet in order to avoid a panic, but you can be assured that what I tell you is truth."
"Travel takes its toll. They’ll clean up all right, this lot. Trust me."
"And my soul fanned that fire wholly in the direction of the young decurion named Caius Antonius Varro."
"In that moment, Caius Varro was Rome. And I . . . I was Vengeance."
"I’m not your enemy! I’m trying to save your worthless hides!"
"If you’re going to kill a man tonight, I suggest picking one who’s trying to kill you!"
"How little you must think of human life that you’d risk your own—and mine!—for a box of trinkets."
"I couldn’t, in that moment, remember ever having told him my name."
"We are its muscles, its brains, and most of all its secrets."
"He sells potential to the good people of the Eternal City. Prestige. Fantasy. And they pay him handsomely for it."
"My paymaster will settle the account and arrange for payment."
"Our life now is simple: Fight, kill, die, and look good doing it."
"Sometimes I forgot it was there. And sometimes it seemed to weigh heavier than gold."
"I was a slave, but before long I’d be a slave with a sword and a full belly."
"Fairness and dignity? I seriously doubted that."
"Forget. Kill your past and bury it deep in the earth of your heart."
"This place is a sisterhood. These girls are your family."
"Honor. I’d always thought I’d known what that word meant to me."
"Never let down your guard until you’re off the field of battle."
"I am descended from an eternal line of warrior women. I cannot not fight."
"Sleep. Wake. Eat. Fight. That’s all you need to do until tomorrow night."
"Stay or go, it would be on my merit or the lack of it, not because of some petty ambush by girls who thought they were better than me."
"I will endure to be burned... to be bound... to be beaten... and to be killed by the sword."
"I didn’t think a woman in Rome could take that kind of control over her own fate."
"I would not have you die at all if I could help it, Fallon."
"You’re not the only girl in the arena who can swing a blade!"
"It means I don’t break promises—even ones I wouldn’t have made, given a choice—and I will not break this one. Not even for you, Caius Varro."
"Honor is nothing but a dangerous lie, Fallon," he said. "In battle, there is no honor, not really."
"You are as much the weapon as the blade you wield, Fallon," she said. "And you need to start taking care of yourself the same way you take care of your equipment, or you’ll be of no use in a fight when that day finally comes."
"The less I thought about the next move, the easier it came, until it felt like I was dancing with a blade in each hand—"
"I think you should fight for yourself," he said. "But those things needn’t be exclusive. Temper passion with control, conviction with cunning. Win, Fallon, the way I didn’t."
"They will dress Arviragus up and chain him to a stake. They’ll probably get him good and roaring drunk, and then they’ll trot him through the town on a cart decked with the spoils of war and the shields of the fallen."
"I have my honor." I lifted my chin. "I won’t dress up as some silly spirit of Victory and fight for Caesar like a trained ape."
"He seems to believe that you’re not very happy with him at the moment," he said. "Pity, seeing as how Caius just received orders that he’s to escort Caesar’s gladiatrix corps on the circuit tour. You’re going to be seeing a lot of each other."
"You are uncommon in your bravery, Fallon. You are stronger than any woman I’ve ever known." He smiled ruefully. "And you seem determined to haunt my dreams."
"You’ve become such a shaggy thing, like one of those ponies you used to drive to exhaustion," Sorcha muttered as she snipped away at my neglected tresses. "It’s an absolute wonder Caius Varro has taken such a shine to you."
"My love for Sorcha is an old, scarred-over wound on my heart, the ache dulled by the passage of time. Finding you ripped that wound open again. I knew there was something about you from the first moment."
"Of course I would have." He snorted. "And so would Caius Varro."
"Does it always have to come back to that?" I asked.
"It’s the kind of magic that appeals to most Romans." He squeezed my hand once and let go.
"The most dangerous adversary is the one who already thinks they’ve nothing left to lose."
"Little fox," she said, "you escaped from a cage once already. And love, the old crones of my tribe would tell you, forges cage bars stronger than iron. Maybe don’t push your luck, ja?"
"I never wanted to own you, Fallon. Only free you—"
"But don’t you see? That’s not real freedom—not for a Cantii warrior. There will come a day, Caius Varro—I promise you—when I will be able to buy my own contract. On that day, if you’ll wait for me, I’ll come to you, and we can be together as equals."
"We dazzled me, like the gods themselves had come to our land."
"Vengeance is never the right path to take, Fallon, no matter where you think it might lead."
"I lay my swords at your feet and my fate in your hands, mighty Caesar."
"I will win the crowd and bring you glory. I will make them love me more than any other gladiatrix who ever set foot upon the arena sand."
"A good bargainer knows when to stop pleading their deal."
"Rome was built by a nation of warriors, dear girl. And now that they’ve conquered most of the world, there’s no one else to kill! So they’re obliged to satisfy the Republic’s bloodlust here at home with their games."
"We are a nation born of blood. If we do not at least attempt to satisfy those cravings, then we will turn inward and fall to corruption."
"You’re either a weapon or a target. Don’t be someone else’s target practice. Make them yours."
"I guess I just didn’t expect that I would like him."
"I have watched you get yourself in and out of scraps for months now. I’ve watched you fall down, get pushed down, and even throw yourself at the ground at times! And every time—every single time—you’ve hauled yourself back up to your feet, and you’ve stood straighter, stronger, and as more of the thing that you are."
"If you’re not a worthy adversary, Fallon, you’re target practice."
"The way to the heart of the Roman mob, it seemed, wasn’t just violence and mayhem. It was equal parts blood and roses."