The Sin Eater's Daughter Quotes
"Even when there are no prisoners, I can still hear the screams. They live in the walls like ghosts and echo between footsteps."
"The roses in the tall crystal vases are all cut to the same length, all the exact same color and arranged the same way. There is no room in this castle for things that are not perfect."
"If I raised an arm to reach for one of them, they would recoil in horror. If I tripped, or fainted, if reflex sabotaged them and they tried to help me, it would be a death sentence for them."
"In the Telling Room, my guards move to stand against the door, and the queen’s apothecary, Rulf, nods curtly toward the stool I am to take before turning his back on me."
"I wait silently, my head bent as he mixes the blood and poison together, as he decants it into a vial."
"I promised myself that I’d find out, that I’d discover this dark secret hidden underground."
"As Daunen Embodied I offer you blessing. Your sins won’t be Eaten when you are gone, but I can offer you the blessings of the Gods."
"I am singing ‘Carac and Cedany,’ my voice soaring as I recount war and bloodshed and righteous glory, when I hear something else underneath it, a soft hissing, whispering sound."
"I could have sent one man or a hundred to their deaths this morning, and still I’ll go because she has ordered me to."
"When the door flew open and the Queensguard rushed in, my first thought was that we were under attack."
"But one day I’ll be the queen of Lormere, sitting on the throne where the queen sits now."
"I am glad you could join us. Twylla was about to begin ‘Fair and Far.’"
"It is known that the soul will linger near the body for three days and nights after a death."
"You’re my daughter, or as near as, Twylla. How else could it be?"
"I understand, Your Majesty," I say. "You’re right. I’m grateful for your concern."
"It’s not a sin to heal people, or to help them. It’s not defying the Gods. How can it be, when the plants physicians use grow in the earth and the knowledge comes from the people the Gods supposedly created?"
"You must tell me if it does. I won’t be offended."
"In mountain’s shadow, Lormere stands, Most blessed of the western lands, Through snow and ice it doth endure, A land of might forevermore."
"I’ll expect to see bull’s eyes at your father’s Eating," she said, and the mayor gasped. "But I won’t Eat them. I will not take that sin."
"Perhaps you would allow me to read it to you? Sometimes it’s hard to say what you mean on paper; sometimes the tone of a word is needed."
"People don’t forget what it is to be loved," he says finally. "No matter how young or old you are, or for how long you had it, you always remember what it is to feel loved. She’ll remember you."
"It’s not a sin to lose a child," I said. "Isn’t it a sin to take a life, no matter the reason?"
"Before Gods, before kings, there was us. We make them safe."
"We both have to do whatever it takes to take care of our own."
"It's hard being this far away, not knowing exactly how they are."
"Everything seems brighter, clearer, and better for it."
"I used to take such pains to make sure I never touched anyone."
"They were scared of what would happen to Lormere when my mother died if I had no queen to take the throne with me."
"I’m not fond of hunting," he says weakly. "But the hunt itself … I have no love for those beasts the king calls his hounds."
"I admire your dedication to your duty."
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"It’s the problem with fairy tales, they change with the telling."
"I wouldn’t want to wake up if it were me; it would be too sad."
"I think she was rather pleased I’d actually sat still and read for once."
"Certainty settles in my stomach, the weight of it comforting, even as my skin prickles."
"I never had you down as the type to make a plea of insanity," he says sadly."
"Mer—Your Majesty, I am sorry. Of all the things I wanted, hurting you was never amongst them," I say softly."
"She has committed no crime," Merek says, his voice only cracking slightly."
"I’ve heard enough," he says. "Your trial is at dawn tomorrow. Make your peace with whatever it is you hold dear."
"I’m sorry I let you think I didn’t believe you, but there were guards waiting for me around the corner in the dungeon."
"But no matter how much she suffers, she will never, ever suffer enough for what she has done to Dorin, to Merek. To me."
"I’m beginning to believe that the Sleeping Prince is finally dead, that the curse has been broken somehow and his story is finally over."
"Rap, tap-tap. As familiar to me as the sound of my own voice."