Bitterblue Quotes
"It's only that she didn't know what she thought, she needed more time than they did, she couldn't always be rushing ahead the way they were."
"The truth is, if he hadn't, he'd be dead now."
"Why would anyone go to the trouble of painting shutters—or a house, or anything—without repairing them properly first?"
"If you lied your way in, then you snuck your way in."
"It's hungry work, sitting up in my rooms all night, waiting and worrying."
"I suppose the little queen is safe without you today, for her first men can do what you would."
"I either tell me what on earth you're talking about, or get out of the range of my thinking."
"The queen has had a shock. She must go to bed and rest as long as she needs to."
"The queen will have no fluffy morning bread."
"Lady Queen, I don't believe you're giving my objections—or my proposal—the proper consideration."
"It's a puzzle solver, and a truthseeker too."
"Once you learn cutting and stitching, do you ever forget it, whatever comes between? Even if Leck comes between?"
"I worry for her. It's my dream that the queen be a truthseeker, but not if it makes her someone's prey."
"You pick it up quickly," Teddy mused as she fought with an i that would not land base side down in the tray.
"It's like writing in cipher. Some part of my brain goes quiet and translates for me."
"Does he understand everything he reads? Or is it just the look of the thing he remembers—the symbols, and how they sit on the page in relation to each other?"
"He came to the end of one page and began another without pause."
"I've shown you my worst behavior, Lady Queen, and you respond with kindness."
"I'll either tell you the truth or say nothing at all."
"Her life will not be like mine. I will protect her from that."
"By allowing your mother to protect you, you gave her a gift."
"I understand that Leck used Bellamew, then killed her."
"He knew every point of resentment I bore against him."
"I'm afraid I insist upon someone who can bear the grievousness of my company."
"It was a dream of my father hurting my mother."
"Everything is marvelous. This is the best day of my life. Thank you for asking."
"The power of the rumor mill, if you could feel it as I do, would boggle your mind."
"I sense things. Not just thoughts, but objects, bodies, force, momentum, the world around me."
"You, of all people, should understand my need for forgiveness."
"You're so high in the world that you can't see down as far as me."
"I don't have time for this, Bitterblue, and I don't have the energy to keep straightening your tangles!"
"I think they're the bones of Leck's victims, Giddon."
"I don't think I have the heart for constant fighting."
"I'm too happy to be needed for anything else to matter, Lady Queen."
"Every configuration of people is an entirely new universe unto itself."
"It matters so desperately to me where you were and what you saw."
"I'd never done anything like that before, Saf, not with anyone."
"My father insisted I talked to Murgon about marrying his daughter."
"You're a queen, Bitterblue. Send the Monsean Guard."
"Little girls are even more perfect when they bleed. They are such a comfort to me when my other experiments go wrong."
"I am trying to determine if Graces reside in the eyes."
"There is a purity in their fear, and it is such a relief to me."
"There are too many people. I tire of deciding what they should think and feel and do."
"I should have stuck with my animals in their cages."
"It has been a hard lesson to learn, that greatness requires suffering."
"The roundness of the ceiling and the dampness make for such acoustics."
"But I cannot turn away because it is so beautiful."
"He stacked the bodies instead of burning them, or disposing of them in any normal way."
"He liked the smell and the vermin. It made others ill, of course."
"It is easier than you might think, Lady Queen. It only requires a lack of thought, an avoidance of feeling, and the realization, when one does think or feel, that being careless with people is all one is good for."
"I'm a pretender too. Right now, I'm pretending to be the leader of Monsea."
"I want to have the heart and mind of a queen. I want it more than anything. But I'm only pretending. I can't find the feeling of it inside me."
"She does understand you, Bitterblue, though she doesn't speak our language. She can respond to you, but she'll only do so with your permission, for she does it mentally. It'll feel like she's in your head."
"You have drugged me with false feeling for you. That is your power."
"It's the first time I've ever heard of two people being together that long, and neither dying, and neither being awful. It makes me happy."
"Because when I heard about you, my heart burst open. I felt that I knew what you'd faced and what you're facing."
"I know you're just as happy as I am," said Bitterblue.
"Because, Bitterblue whispered. He loved me and I hurt him."
"He can give you good dreams," Bitterblue said.
"I walk on top of the world, and I'm not afraid," she said. "It's a beautiful dream, Saf."
"My turn," he said. "Would you stop being the queen for me?"
"I do want to tell you, Lady Queen," he finally choked out. "But I can't."
"Don't you worry," he'd said to her. "Your mother will keep you from harm, Bitterblue. Believe what she says, you understand? Believe every word she says. Go now, and be safe."