The Bridge Kingdom Quotes
"You have one year. Do not falter. Do not fail."
"It's in every Ithicanian's nature to be secretive, and we are still coming to terms with having an outsider in our midst."
"I was raised to be your queen, not a common soldier."
"Maridrina will starve before it ever sees the benefit of this treaty."
"Desire is your weapon to wield as wickedly as any sword."
"We grow nothing. We create nothing. We know nothing but war and survival. Our children grow up learning a hundred ways to kill a man, but are barely literate enough to write their own names. And that’s not good enough."
"She’s little more than a girl, alone, and at our mercy. I think I can handle myself."
"Every woman who’d shared his bed had done so because she’d wanted to, and the idea of spending his life with a woman who was there solely out of duty was unappealing."
"We need alliances—true alliances. Alliances that go beyond pieces of paper signed by kings."
"I’m not in the habit of murdering innocent women."
"I’ll either send it or tell her that I chose not to. Is there anything on the surface here that we need to be worried about the Magpie seeing?"
"You were supposed to stay in the house, Lara."
"To risk everything for the slim chance of saving those you loved … Lara knew that compulsion because that was how she felt about her sisters. And it might cost her her own life just yet."
"Good enough," Jor announced from somewhere ahead, and the blindfold was tugged from her eyes.
"It’s your breath," she explained, and Lara struggled not to stomp on Aren’s foot when he covered his own mouth to hide a smirk.
"You’re a sly little thing, just like them. Always searching for an advantage."
"I was down and one of them came at my back. She got in the way and stuck a knife in him."
"Quit your chattering," Nana barked from a distance. "There’s other chores that need doing."
"I’m willing to accept certain personal failings."
"No helping it. We’ll have to bring her with us."
"Stay here," he whispered. "Keep out of sight and watch out for snakes."
"Ithicana does not instigate conflict—we can’t afford to."
"Most people lie to avoid embarrassment. Very few people lie to embarrass themselves, which inclines others to believe them."
"It was easier to stab a demon in the back. A much harder thing to betray a man whose actions and choices were driven by a desire to do right by his people."
"I'll find out what they know." Taryn left Lara with the other two guards, who followed her as she skirted the cove, climbing the carved stone steps to the cliff tops, where she could see the sea.
"I wish it was different. I wish it wasn’t like this."
"All Maridrinian women are expected to be able to put their husbands back together. I received the appropriate training."
"What changed is that now I know you use that money to feed and protect your people."
"You can't be serious," Lara snarled. "Aren, get back in the boat, you—"
"I need you to help me make this stop. I'm tired of fighting against the world, when what I want is to fight to make Ithicana part of it."
"This is Aren's bunk," Taryn said, once they were in the confines of the stone building. "He won't mind if you sleep here."
"It's never going to stop, Aren." Her voice was barren. Dead. Which was strange, because inside her head was a chaos of emotion. "You have what everyone wants, and they're never going to stop trying to take it."
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"I'm not the one who has been lying to you. Not that I expect you to believe me."
"I'm sorry I've been so terrible. You deserve someone better than me."
"Since the moment I set eyes on you in Southwatch, there’s been no one but you. Even if I’m a goddamned fool for it, there will never be anyone but you."
"You think Ithicana is responsible for Maridrina’s troubles?"
"I need you to say that you want this, Lara. That you're allowing this because you choose to, not because it was forced upon you."
"I love you. And I will love you, no matter what the future brings. No matter how hard I need to fight. I will always love you."
"Ithicana makes no alliances. We are neutral—we have to be, or war will come for us."
"I don’t want to leave Ithicana. She did not want to leave him. She wanted to stay, to fight and sweat and bleed for him and his harsh, wild, and beautiful kingdom."
"It’s past time we stopped allowing our enemies to dictate our lives and start living them for those we love. And for ourselves."
"Maybe it’s time you told them the truth about me. Maybe that will be enough to prove to them the gravity of our situation."
"You can’t let me leave Ithicana. I know too much. You’d be risking too much."
"I don’t see how that can happen while he lives."
"But assassinating your father will accomplish the exact opposite of what we’re working toward."
"God help him if he was forced to follow through."
"I may not have the balls to stick this blade in your black Maridrinian heart."
"Go! Run! I never want to see your face. I never want to hear your name."
"I’d cut your heart out here and now if not for the fact Ahnna deserves the honor."
"You have a lot of nerve coming back, I’ll give you that."
"Your father has Aren inside his palace in Vencia, which I’m sure you know is a veritable fortress guarded by the elite of the Maridrinian army."
"You need me because I am the Queen of Ithicana. And it’s time my father was brought to his knees."