K.X. Song > Quotes

“I needed to prove that I, as a woman, could be better than the rest of them. That I too could belong. That I too could be free.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“My hunger roused me. In the depths of the sea, I drew upon my greed, my insatiable ambition. I cried out to my shadow self, my truest self, and reached for her through her iron imprisonment. I understood now why I was called a perversion. It was unnatural for a woman to have this kind of ambition, and yet I existed. My existence was my birthright, and it would be my justification.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I spat at his words. The idea that his victory meant nothing to him only further enraged me. Perhaps because it came at such great cost to my future. Perhaps because my own life meant everything to me.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“Because it was depravity, for a woman to desire more than her lot in life. To aspire to more than safety, protection. To aspire to power.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“If you want to put a target on your back, make sure you're strong enough to carry the target first.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“The truth was, I could not bear to think of my future, as uncertain as it was. If it was wretched, I did not wish to know. And if it was sweet, how much more painful to have it stolen from me?”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I knew red was your color," he said. "Your beauty rivals the moon, fair Meilin.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“His lip curled. “Your emotions are getting the better of you.” And now my temper blazed brilliant and searing, hot enough to match his. “Oh, so now that I’m a woman everything I say is due to my emotions?”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I'm not a good person, Meilin," he said. "But the difference between me and your little Anlai hero-I've never pretended otherwise.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“She swallowed hard. 'They would never let a woman hold on to power.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I know you're strong," said Lei, his eyes ruminative in the fire light, "but being strong doesn't mean you don't deserve to be protected and taken care of.”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

“They say a girl with an ill-fated mother is doomed to follow in her footsteps.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“That young girl from a year ago, the one who’d dreamed of adventure, of seeing the world beyond the women’s quarters. She had sought wonder, wildness. She had believed in the world’s capacity for beauty. Only a year had passed, and yet I could no longer recall what that felt like. To believe in the goodness of people. To seek justice but live with compassion. To hope for better days. There was no hope for someone like me.”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

“Wood, fire, earth, metal, water, I recited,”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“Lei said nothing, a tendon in his neck rising as he swallowed. "I'll remember," he said at last, his voice low yet thrumming with power. "For as long as I live.”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

“Unexpectedly, tears pricked my eyes. I had cried many times for the mother I’d lost, stolen by death. But now I cried for the mother I’d never known—not the empty shell of a woman bound to my father, but the reckless, foolhardy girl she’d been before that, years ago. I cried for her. I cried for the inheritance she’d left me.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I nodded. Most children knew of the fabled dragon, phoenix, tiger, and tortoise, who controlled the four directions and winds.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“You’re not missing out on much, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “Anlai is the most beautiful place in the world.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “With the most beautiful women.” Was he . . . flirting with me?”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I tried to ignore the visceral discomfort that Rose at the dragon's words. For these were qualities I desired in myself. Xiuying was benevolent and tender-hearted. Sky was noble and kind. These were traits I tried to mimic, strengths I knew that Heroes of every Legend possessed. But who was I diluting? I was not the hero of this story.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I peered at him. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't," he said easily. "But isn't it so much more interesting this way?”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

“Women and children are like garments, but brothers are like limbs. If you lose a piece of clothing, you can get another. But if you lose a limb, you'll always feel its lost.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I was a mess of contradictions. I craved intimacy, and yet, when offered it, I found myself unworthy. I wanted affection, and yet, when someone showed me how much they cared, I shrank from that trust, as if it were a collar around my throat. I did not know what I desired anymore. I had been the one to come here late at night, to wake him from his rest, to demand his attention, and now I was the one pulling away, trying to hurt him, trying to hide from him. And still there was a part of me that long to be known, that begged him to forgive me, to understand me, to not let me push him away.”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

“Lei's eyes crinkled. "I can't give up all my secrets," he said. "Where's the fun in that?”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

“I understood now why I was called a perversion. It was unnatural for a woman to have this kind of ambition, and yet I existed. My existence was my birthright, and it would be my justification.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“This was going to be me. I would flee Father only to fall under another master. And even if I were to bear him a healthy son and earn my status in this household, even if Master Zhu were to pass away, that son would one day grow up to be a man, and then he too would command me.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I was not my mother nor my father. I was more than the inheritance they had left me.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I recalled what Sky had taught me and ran at a zigzag, darting from left to right as I made for the river.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“It was selfish”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“Thank you for coming all this way, Madame Shu,” said Xiuying, before pouring oolong tea for the matchmaker. Madame Shu’s eyes were shrewd, calculating. “It’s a busy season for weddings, and I won’t waste time on small talk. Let’s get to business,” she said, in a brusque tone I hadn’t heard many women use before. “The state of your home astounds even me. And I hear all the rumors.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I take it back," he said grumpily. "I don't like feisty women. More trouble than they're worth.”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder