mina > mina's Quotes

“It’s you I love,” he says. “I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours.” He walks to the door to the royal chambers, as though to end the conversation. “You probably guessed as much,” he says. “But just in case you didn’t.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“By you, I am forever undone.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“Mock me all you like. Whatever I imagined then, now it is I who would beg and grovel for a kind word from your lips." His eyes are black with desire. "By you, I am forever undone.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“If you’re the sickness, I suppose you can’t also be the cure.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Yes, my great villan, my darling god. I will be as sober as a stone carving, just as soon as I can”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I wasn't kind, Jude. Not to many people. Not to you. I wasn't sure if I wanted you or if I wanted you gone from my sight so that I would stop feeling as I did, which made me even more unkind. But when you were gone—truly gone beneath the waves—I hated myself as I never have before.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I raise a plastic glass. “To family.”
“And Faerieland,” says Taryn, raising hers.
“And pizza,” says Oak.
“And stories,” says Heather.
“And new beginnings,” says Vivi.
Cardan smiles, his gaze on me. “And scheming great schemes.”
To family and Faerieland and pizza and stories and new beginnings and scheming great schemes. I can toast to that.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“The disturbing thing about Cardan is how well he plays the fool to disguise his own cleverness.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“You don’t think monster girls and wicked boys deserve love?”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“Go ahead. Insult me.”
His eyebrows go up. “I don’t take commands from mortals,” he says with his customary cruel smile.
“So you’re going to say something nice? I don’t think so. Faeries can’t lie.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“You didn’t hear the story I told,” he goes on. “A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“You didn’t get what you deserved, but you don’t have to live inside that one story forever. No one’s heart has to remain stone.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“It turned out that Cardan didn't have a heart of stone after all. As he removed his shirt and sank to his knees, as he fisted his hands and tried not to cry out when the strap fell, he burned with hatred. Hatred for Dain; for his father; for all his siblings who didn't take him on and the one who did; for his mother, who spat at his feet as she was led away; for stupid, disgusting mortals; for all of Elfhame and everyone in it. Hate that was so bright and hot that it was the first thing that truly warmed him. Hate that felt so good that he welcomed being consumed by it. Not a heart of stone, but a heart of fire.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“¨Clap her in chains,¨ Says Randalin. I feel a guards hand close on my arm. Then Cardans voice comes. ¨Do not touch her. She is my wife,¨ Cardan says, his voice carrying over the crowd. ¨The rightful High Queen of Elfhame. And most definitely not in exile.¨
Page 147”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“The Grand General would mount your head on a wall,” Nicasia informed him, patting his cheek.

“A very fine head,” he informed her with a wicked grin. “Suitable for mounting.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“I think we should consider our roles as monarchs to be largely decorative. It would be better for the low Courts and the solitary Folk to work things out on their own.”
― Holly Black

“Cardan gazes at a rosebush with petals so black and glossy they look like patent leather. ¨It was terrifying,¨ he says, ¨watching you fall. I mean, you´re generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then I was furious. I am not sure I have ever been that angry before.¨ ¨Mortals are fragile,¨ I say. ¨Not you,¨ he says in a way that sounds a little like a lament. ¨You never break.¨
Page 159”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“I turn away from him and walk, swiftly and completely directionless through the garden. He runs after me, grabbing my arm. I haul around and slap him. Its a stinging blow, smearing the gold on his cheekbone and causing his skin to redden. We stare at each other for long moments, breathing hard. His eyes are bright with something entirely different from anger. I am in over my head. I am drowning. ¨I didnt mean to hurt you.¨ He grabs my hand,possibly to keep me from hitting him again. Our fingers lace together. ¨No, it not that, not exactly. I didnt think I could hurt you. And i never thought you would be afraid of me.¨ ¨And did you like it?¨"I ask. He looks away from me then, and I have my answer. Maybe he doesnt want to admit to that impulse, but he has it. ¨Well, I was hurt, and yes, you scare me.¨ Even as I am speaking, I wish I could snatch back the words. Perhaps it is exhaustion or having been so close to death, but the truth pours out of me in a devastating rush. ¨You´ve always scared me. You gave me every reason to fear your capriciousness and your cruelty. I was afraid of you even when you were tied to that chair in the court of shadows. I was afraid of you when i had a knife to your throat. And i am scared of you now.¨ Cardan looks more suprised then he did when I slapped him. He was always a symbol of everything about Elfhame that I couldnt have, everything that would never want me. And telling him this feels a little like throwing off a heavy weight, except that weight is supposed to be my armor, and without it, I am afraid I am going to be entirely exposed. But i keep talking anyway, as though I no longer have control of my tongue. ¨You despised me. When you said you wanted me, it felt like the world has turned upside down.
Page 160-161”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“He closes his eyes. When he opens them, he releases my hand and turns so I cant see his face. ¨I can see why you thought what you did. I suppose I am not an easy person to trust. And maybe I ought not to be trusted, but let me say this: i trust you.¨
Page 162”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“¨But i am going to take out her stitches, and I dont think youd want to watch that.¨ ¨Oh I dont know,¨ I say. ¨Maybe he´d like to hear me scream.¨ ¨I would,¨ Cardan says, standing. ¨And perhaps one day I will.¨ On his way out, his hand goes to my hair. A light touch, barely there, and then gone.
Page 166”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“Jude, you cant really think I dont know its you. I knew it was you from the moment you stepped into the brugh.
Page 69”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“Let Cardan not be shot. Let the Ghost be clumsy.
Let me get inside easily. Let me stop him.
I do not pause to ask myself to ask why I am in such a panic to save someone for whom I swore I rooted out every feeling. I will not think about that.
Page 141”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“My palm is smeared with gold. When I look at him, I see the remaining powder has been smudged over his cheekbones by the strike of my hand. I cant stop staring at it, cant stop thinking about the way he looked at me when he caught my fingers. That´s the only excuse I have for not noticing that hes led me back to his rooms, which are, I suppose, also mine since we´re married.
Page 163”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“Cardan puts up a hand.¨No, no, enough. Its all too tedious to explain. I declare this meeting at an end.¨ His fingers making a flicking gesture toward the door. ¨Leave us. I tire of the lot of you.¨
Page 165”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“Never is like forever, I think, and then am angry to be reminded of anything Cardan has ever said, especially now.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“If I didn’t have another reason to cross you, I would do it for spite.”
― Holly Black

“I know what you did,” he drawled, voice low, not at all sounding like he was asking a question. “Wicked girl. Yet you let your sister take the brunt of my ire. That wasn’t very nice, was it?”
― Holly Black, The Lost Sisters

“That´s one reason I didnt want to believe you´d joined up with Madoc. The other is that i want you here by my side, as my queen.
Page 163”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“You may win in the end, you may ensorcell me and hurt me and humiliate me, but I will make sure you lose everything I can take from you on the way down.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned.”
― Holly Black