Home > Work > The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy, #2)
21 " But yes,” he said wearily. “As I could, I loved you. Now will you go? Live.” “I, too,” she said. “In a childish way, as girls love heroes that come in the night, I loved you. "
― Katherine Arden , The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy, #2)
22 " Things are or they are not, Vasya,” he interrupted. “If you want something, it means you do not have it, it means that you do not believe it is there, which means it will never be there. The fire is or it is not. That which you call magic is simply not allowing the world to be other than as you will it. "
23 " The breath hitched in his throat. His hand caught hers, but he did not untangle her fingers. "Why are you here?" she asked him. For a moment she thought he would not answer, then he said, as though reluctant, "I heard you cry. "
24 " There is no magic. Things are. Or they are not. "
25 " How? I am a demon and a nightmare; I die every spring, and I will live forever. "
26 " With that sapphire, he bound your strength to him, but the magic did what he did not intend; it made him strong but also pulled him closer and closer to mortality, so that he was hungry for life, more than a man and less a demon. So that he loved you, and did not know what to do. "
27 " Only boys and fools think men are first in courage. We do not bear children. "
28 " Mornings are wiser than evenings. "
29 " Has the world run dry of warriors?' She asked. 'All out of brave lords? Are they sending out maidens these days to do the work of heroes?' 'There were no heroes,' said Vasya between her teeth. 'There was only me. "
30 " Close your eyes," he said into her ear. "Come with me." She did so, and suddenly she saw what he saw. She was the wind, the clouds gathering in the smoky sky, the thick snow of deep winter. She was nothing. She was everything. The power gathered somewhere in the space between them, between her flickers of awareness. There is no magic. Things are. Or they are not. She was beyond wanting anything. She didn't care whether she lived or died. She could only feel; the gathering storm, the breath of the wind. "
31 " Live,” she said. “You said you loved me. Live. "
32 " Sasha looked at his sister. He had never thought of her as girlish, but the last trace of softness was gone. The quick brain, the strong limbs were there: fiercely, almost defiantly present, though concealed beneath her encumbering dress. She was more feminine than she had ever been, and less. Witch. The word drifted across his mind. We call such women so, because we have no other name. "
33 " It is going to end, Vasya thought. One day. This world of wonders, where steam in a bathhouse can be a creature that speaks prophecy. One day, there will be only bells and processions. The chyerti will be fog and memory and stirrings in the summer barley. "
34 " That love of maidens for monsters, that does not fade with time.” He looked weary. “But the rest—I did not count on that. "
35 " Why carve things of wood,” she asked him, “if you can make marvelous things of ice with only your hands?” He glanced up. “I carve things of wood because things made by effort are more real than things made by wishing. "
36 " That which you call magic is simply not allowing the world to be other than as you will it. "
37 " You cannot love and be immortal. "
38 " I will see the world beyond this forest, and I will not count the cost. "
39 " She hated him. She dreamed about him. None of it mattered. Might as well hate the sky - or desire it - and she hated that worst of all. "
40 " The more one knows, the sooner one grows old. "