101
" After we left Serra,” Keenan says, “we’d been walking—running, really, for hours. When we finally stopped and settled into our rolls for the night, she looked up and said, ‘The stars are so different when you’re free.’” Keenan shakes his head. “After running all day, eating hardly anything, and being so tired she couldn’t take another step, she fell asleep smiling at the sky. "
― Sabaa Tahir , A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes, #2)
109
" Elias speeds his gait, and Keenan drops back, taking a position far enough behind me that I think it best to leave him be. I catch up with Izzi, and she leans toward me. “They’ve avoided ripping each other’s faces off,” she says. “That’s a start, right?” I choke back a laugh. “How long until they kill each other, d’you think? And who strikes first?” “Two days before all-out war,” Izzi says. “My money’s on Keenan striking first. He’s got a temper, that one. But Elias will win, being a Mask and all. Though”—she tilts her head—“he doesn’t look so good, Laia.” Izzi "
― Sabaa Tahir , A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes, #2)
116
" Nightweed. Barely mentioned because it is illegal in the Empire, even for Masks. It was outlawed a century ago, after it was used to assassinate an Emperor. Always deadly, though in higher doses, it kills swiftly. In lower doses, the only symptoms are severe seizures. Three to six months of seizures, I remember. Then death. There is no cure. No antidote. Finally, I understand why the Commandant let us escape from Serra, why she didn’t bother slitting my throat. She didn’t have to. Because she’d already killed me. "
― Sabaa Tahir , A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes, #2)
119
" I’m nothing, nothing but a pile of furs, nothing important. You don’t see me. You don’t see anything. “Jitan!” He shouts to his men. “Imir!” The swift footsteps of two men approach, and a moment later, lamplight chases away the darkness beneath the cart. Shikaat rips the fur free, and I find myself staring into his triumphant face. Except his triumph turns to bewilderment almost immediately. He gazes at the fur and then back at me. He holds up the lamp, illuminating me clearly. But he doesn’t look at me. Almost as if he can’t see me. As if I’m invisible. Which is impossible. The second I think it, he blinks and grabs me. “You disappeared,” he whispers. “And now you’re here. Did you magick me?” He shakes me hard, rattling my teeth in my head. “How did you do it?” “Piss "
― Sabaa Tahir , A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes, #2)