Home > Work > Crier's War (Crier's War, #1)
1 " If longing is madness, then none of us are sane. "
― Nina Varela , Crier's War (Crier's War, #1)
2 " Humanity is how you act, my lady,” said Jezen. “Not how you were Made. "
3 " Crier wanted to study her like a map. Draw an easy path between all the specific yet scattered points of her. "
4 " She had never really seen a pair of eyes like this. It was like standing in the doorway to a dark room, like balancing on a threshold, holding a lantern up and watching how it kissed some things gold and left other things in shadow. It was the kind of dark that hid and held a lot of things. A hot fluid dark, a summer tide pool dark, a wild breathless dark. "
5 " Justice was a god, and Ayla didn't believe in such childish things. She believed in blood. "
6 " Crier wanted to point to her chest, this is the hurting part, this is the bleeding part, fix it or take it out. "
7 " She didn't usually feel the aloneness quite this much, but it was harder, this time of year, to ignore the graveyard in her chest. "
8 " There was something terrible in her, something clawed and angry and afraid and sad… The truth of Ayla, the pain of her, was like a song you could feel vibrating on the air, even if you didn’t know the words. It was a hum, low and throaty and full of sorrow. "
9 " I was talking about how you never, ever stop fighting, no matter how much it hurts. "
10 " Ayla wanted to see her break things, wanted to see her broken, wanted to watch her break apart, wanted to be the cause of it. "
11 " She carried the same intensity about her, like heat waves rising from her skin, even though she was just standing in the doorway and not currently in the middle of saving Crier's life. Like she was more than a human girl. Like she was a summer storm made flesh. "
12 " A drop of water gleamed on Ayla's lower lip. Strangely, it made Crier want to—drink. "
13 " The truth of Ayla, the pain of her, was like a song you could feel vibrating on the air, even if you didn't know the words. "
14 " I have a heart like you, Ayla." Crier repeated, pressing Ayla's hand harder against her chest. Ayla heard her own heartbeat and felt Crier's—a song tapping against her palm, a racing pulse beneath her fingers. Ayla was breathing too hard. She was breathing too hard. "I feel things too," Crier whispered. "
15 " Which illness gives you stomach pains and a limp," Crier muttered, helping Ayla through the green door of the inn."A bad one," Ayla retorted. "
16 " Those foxes were wild, though. Wild, frightened, ready to run. Claws and teeth and matted fur. Sometimes that was Ayla. Most times it was not. "
17 " Perhaps the butterfly was actually a wasp. "
18 " Ayla was as silent as the storm was loud in Crier's head. Her heart raced. "
19 " She was called the Barren Queen, but I never met anyone less empty. For if one is wanting of a child, then by nature their heart is overfilled with love -- overflowing, yearning for a new vessel to hold that love, like spilling water.There are some who call her a monster. Some who call her mad.If longing is madness, then none of us are sane. "
20 " She had known Ayla for less than an hour total, and already she knew what she wanted. "