Wintersong (Wintersong, #1) QUOTES

103 " An inarticulate scream of rage strangled me. I wanted
to destroy something, to spend my anger against the unfairness of every thing. I wanted nothing more than to grapple with the Goblin King, to tear him from limb to limb, a Maenad against Orpheus. I tightened my hands into fists. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

104 " Trapped and tormented by your own wishes. I knew intimately how that felt; I was often strangled by the tyranny of my desires. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

105 " I said I wanted you, entire. And I will have you, when you truly give your all to me. When you finally free that part of you that you so desperately deny, the part of you I have wanted ever since I first met you, then I will have you Elisabeth. You entire. On then...I won't settle for second best. I won't settle for half your heart when I want your whole soul. Only then will I taste your fruit, and savor every last drop until it is gone. Your would is beautiful. And the proof is there. In your music. If you weren't so afraid to share it with me, if you weren't so scared of that part of you, you would have had me long ago" -Der Erlkonig "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

106 " Once there was a little girl who played her music for a little boy in the wood. She was small and dark, he was tall and fair, and the two of them made a fancy pair as they danced together, dancing to the music the little girl heard in her head.

Her grandmother had told her to beware the wolves that prowled in the wood, but the little girl knew the little boy was not dangerous, even if he was the king of the goblins.

Will you marry me, Elisabeth? the little boy asked, and the little girl did not wonder at how he knew her name.

Oh, she replied, but I am too young to marry.

Then I will wait, the little boy said. I will wait as long as you remember.

And the little girl laughed as she danced with the Goblin King, the little boy who was always just a little older, a little out of reach.

As the seasons turned and the years passed, the little girl grew older but the Goblin King remained the same. She washed the dishes, cleaned the floors, brushed her sister’s hair, yet still ran to the forest to meet her old friend in the grove. Their games were different now, truth and forfeit and challenges and dares.

Will you marry me, Elisabeth? the little boy asked, and the little girl did not yet understand his question was not part of a game.

Oh, she replied, but you have not yet won my hand.

Then I will win, the little boy said. I will win until you surrender.

And the little girl laughed as she played against the Goblin King, losing every hand and every round.

Winter turned to spring, spring to summer, summer into autumn, autumn back into winter, but each turning of the year grew harder and harder as the little girl grew up while the Goblin King remained the same. She washed the dishes, cleaned the floors, brushed her sister’s hair, soothed her brother’s fears, hid her father’s purse, counted the coins, and no longer went into the woods to see her old friend.

Will you marry me, Elisabeth? the Goblin King asked.

But the little girl did not reply. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

107 " I am wildness and madness made flesh. You're just a girl"–he smiled, and the tips of his teeth were sharp–"and I am the wolf in the woods. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

108 " The Goblin King’s face darkened. “What is wrong with you, Elisabeth?”

I lifted my eyes to his. “There is nothing wrong with me.”

“There is.” He shifted in his seat, and although there was an endless array of food and feast between us, he was too close. A storm was brewing behind those mismatched eyes, and the air between us crackled with electricity. “You’re not the Elisabeth I remember. I thought that if you—that if you became my—” He cut himself off abruptly. “This,” he said, gesturing to the space between us, “is not what I was hoping for.”

“People grow up, mein Herr,” I said shortly. “They change.”

He gave me a hard look. “Evidently.” He stared at me for a beat longer before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, resting his feet on the table. “Ah, well, my mistake. Time passes differently Underground than in the world above. Mere moments for me, several years and a lifetime ago for you, apparently.” "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

109 " I could say the stranger was beautiful, but to describe
him thus was to call Mozart “just a musician.” His beauty was that of an ice storm, lovely and deadly. He was not handsome, not the way Hans was handsome; the stranger’s features were too long, too pointed, too alien. There was a prettiness about him that was almost girly, and an ugliness about him that was just as compelling. I understood then what Constanze had meant when those doomed young ladies longed to hold on to him the way they yearned to grasp candle flame or mist. His beauty hurt, but it was the pain that made it beautiful. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

110 " Promises, eh? You make so many, but how many of them can you keep? "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

111 " Was my sacrifice worth it? I felt hollow and bereft, yet the grief in my heart had palpable weight, bearing me down to the ground. I could not breathe. I carried the burden of my love for my family, and it threatened to suffocate me. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

112 " You have something much more enduring than beauty,” she said severely. “And what is that?” “Grace,” she said simply. “Grace, and talent.” I "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

113 " He looked at me as no one had before, as though I were more the sum of my eyes, my nose, my lips, my hair, and my wretched plainness. He looked as though he saw me entire, as though he knew me" -Liesl "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

114 " If it were only feathers that could transform a sparrow into a peacock" -Liesl

"A sparrow is beautiful in its own way. Don't force yourself to be a peacock, Liesl. Embrace your sparrow self. Look." -Kathe "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

115 " Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth." -Der Erlkonig "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

116 " I would shape the world to fit the music in my soul. I "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

117 " It was a pleasure to open that door and turn the lock, hearing the solid thunk and clang as the mechanism slid into place. I had done this so many times to my own heart; it was a pleasure to do it to the world. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

118 " What will you do when there is no one left to take care of, no one left to look after? Is that when you will finally look after you? "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

119 " Ah, but are we not, in some ways, all trapped in a labyrinth of our own making?" the Goblin King asked lightly. "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)

120 " My weakness did not pass; it grew worse the longer I was awake. I thought about calling for Twig or Thistle, to have them bring me something to eat or drink, but I wanted to be alone. I wanted to cry. I had spent tears of rage, frustration, and sorrow since becoming the Goblin King’s bride, but I hadn’t allowed myself the indulgence of a good sob. The undignified, broken-hearted, mournful wail of ugly tears. The weight of that unreleased cry pressed down upon my lungs and my heart. I "

― S. Jae-Jones , Wintersong (Wintersong, #1)