" Kellen, maybe there is something inside you that you can’t change. Perhaps the shadowblack truly is evil. But maybe it takes more than that. Maybe evil is only evil when it’s what we can’t change combined with what we choose not to.’

Maybe it’s what we can’t change combined with what we choose not to. I thought about the things I’d done in my life. I thought about Reichis and how many times he’d kept me from running. I was a coward, but his courage had sometimes been enough to make me stand and fight. I was weak and foolish, but Ferius’s wisdom had sometimes been enough to make me clever. I was a liar by instinct, but Nephenia’s fearless honesty had taught me to be truthful, sometimes even to myself. Maybe that’s how it was with the queen. I was broken inside, but what if I didn’t need to be good? What if I could just … do good? Could I still be a coward and do the brave thing? Could I still be evil and do the right thing? Wouldn’t that be one hell of a spell? "

― Sebastien de Castell , Queenslayer (Spellslinger, #5)