Home > Work > An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1) QUOTES

An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1) QUOTES

1 " Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after. Such moments are tests of courage, of strength. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

2 " I never feared the night, not even as a child, but Blackcliff’s night is different, heavy with a silence that makes you look over your shoulder, a silence that feels like a living thing. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

3 " Seeing the enemy as human. A general's ultimate nightmare. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

4 " There will be so much more in between. So much uncertainty. I don't know if we'll survive the catacombs, let alone the rest of it. But it doesn't matter. For now, these steps are enough. These first few precious steps into darkness. Into the unknown. Into freedom. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

5 " Exhaustion is temporary. Pain is temporary. But Helene dying because I didn't find a way to get her back on time—that's permanent. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

6 " The voice is deep and soft, not a sound so much as a feeling. It is storm and wind and leaves twisting in the night. It is roots sucking deep at the earth, and the pale, sightless creatures that live below the ground. But there’s something wrong with this voice, something diseased at its core. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

7 " Rage colors her every movement. Rage that has nothing to do with her so-called bodyguards and everything to do with me and her and the confusion rolling around inside the both of us.
This should be interesting "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

8 " I don't smile at her. It will only scare her. For a female slave, a smile from a Mask is not usually a good thing. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

9 " Fight back, Laia. For Darin. For Izzi. For every Scholar this beast has abused. Fight. A scream bursts from me, and I claw at Marcus’s face, but a punch to my stomach takes the wind out of my lungs. I double over, retching, and his knee comer up into my forehead. The hallway spins, and I drop to my knees. Then I hear him laughting, a sadistic chuckle that stokes my defiance.

Sluggishly, I throw myself at his legs. It won’t be like before, like during the raid when I let that Mask drag me about my own house like some dead thing.

This time, I’ll fight. Tooth and nail, I’ll fight. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

10 " There are two kinds of guilt: the kind that drowns you until you’re useless, and the kind that fires your soul to purpose. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

11 " We match each other stroke for stroke until I get a hit on her right arm.

She tries to switch sword arms, but I jab my scim at her wrist faster than she can parry. Her scim goes flying, and I tackle her. Her white-blonde hair tumbles free of her bun.

“Surrender!” I pin her down at the wrists, but she trashes and rips one arm free, scrabbling for a dagger at her waist. Steel stabs at my ribs, and seconds later, I am on my back with a blade at my throat.

“Ha!” She leans down, her hair falling around us like a shimmering silver curtain. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

12 " She's still clinging to the side of her mountain, just like I'm still wandering lost in my battlefield. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

13 " You—you were like me. You were a child. A normal child. And that was taken from you.”

“Does that bother you?”

“Well, it certainly makes you harder to hate. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

14 " When did you star here?” I ask her.

“Three days ago. Sir. Aspirant. Um—” She wrings her hands.

“Veturius is fine.”

She walks carefully, gingerly—the Commandant must have whipped her recently. And yet she doesn't hunch or shuffle like the others slaves. The straight-backed grace with which she moves tells her story better than words. She'd been a freewoman before this—I'd bet my scims on it. And she has no idea how pretty she is—or what kind of problems her beauty will cause for her at a place like Blackcliff. The wind pulls at her hair again, and I catch her scent—like fruit and sugar.

“Can I give you some advice?”

Her head flies up like a scared animal's. At least she's wary. “Right now you...” Will grab the attention of every male in a square mile. “Stand out,” I finish. “It's hot, but you should wear a hood or a cloak—something to help you blend in.”

She nods, but her eyes are suspicious. She wraps her arms around herself and drops back a little. I don't speak to her again. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

15 " As long as there is life, there is hope. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

16 " Tell us a story. Something scary.” She shivers in anticipation, and Cook makes a strange sound that could be a laugh or a groan. “Life isn’t scary enough for you, girl? "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

17 " Her hands, so steady when she stirs vats of jam or braids my hair, flutter like frantic birds, desperate for me to move faster. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

18 " Cook’s voice is nothing like a Tribal Kehanni’s: It is stern where a tale-spinner’s would be gentle, all edges where a tale-spinner’s would be mellow and curved. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

19 " I don't believe in the supernatural. Not when there's worse that roams the night "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

20 " Contrary to what you might think, girl," Cook says, "the Commandant is not all-powerfull. She underestimated you, for one. She misread Spiro Teluman -- he is a man and so, in her mind, is onlly capable of a man's base appetites. She hasn't connected you to your parents. She makes mistakes, like everyone else. The only difference is that she doesn't make the same mistake twice. Keep that in mind and you just might be able to outwit her. "

― Sabaa Tahir , An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)