Faerie Magic Quotes

“The faeries took no notice of my cry. No doubt they were used to lost travelers screaming for help. One of them grabbed me by my cloak and wrenched me painfully back and forth, like an animal wishing to drag me to the ground. But I did not need to call for Wendell again.
He stepped out from behind a tree---or perhaps from the tree; I didn't see. He reached a hand out and snapped the neck of the faerie gripping me, which I had not expected, and I staggered back from both him and the crumpling body. He saw the mark on my neck, and his entire face darkened with something that seemed to go beyond fury and made him look like some feral creature. The faeries scattered like leaves, though they were too intrigued and too stupid to run.
"Are you hurt?"
"No." I don't know how I made myself speak. I have seen Wendell angry before, but this was something that seemed to surge through him like lightning, threatening to burn everything in its path.
He moved his hand, and a hideous tree rose up from the snow, dark and terrifying, all thorns and knife-sharp branches. The boughs darted out, and he skewered the faeries on them. Once they were all immobilized, held squirming and screaming above the ground, he moved from one to the other, tearing them apart with perfect, calm brutality. Limbs, hearts, other organs I did not recognize scattered the snow. He did not rush, but killed them methodically while the others howled and writhed.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“The next time I took notice of you, you were sobbing all over the snow. Well, I thought, finally she's being sensible. Then I realized that you were sobbing because you'd stabbed yourself in the arm, and not out of concern for my imminent demise. I noticed that your tears were freezing as they hit the icy ground and collecting into the shape of a sword.
Well, that almost killed me. I mean that---I froze for a full second, during which our yeti friend nearly skewered me through. I dodged, barely, my head whirling. One day I would like for you to explain to me how you heard of the story of Deirdre and her faerie husband, a long-ago king, which is one of the oldest tales in my realm. Do mortals tell it as we do? When the king's murderous sons schemed to steal his kingdom by starving it into torpor with endless winter, Deirdre collected the tears of his dying people and froze them into a sword, with which he was finally able to slay his children. It is a tale many of my own people have forgotten---I know it only because that poor, witless king is my ancestor.
I felt the story in my blood and let my magic flow into the sword you were fashioning.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“There's a reason I'm not a diplomat,' I said, 'I'm better at stabbing things than negotiation.'" - Ivy Lane”
― Emma L. Adams, Faerie Magic

“Whatever he touched burst into bloom, scattering the snow with leaves like beaten emeralds, red berries, pussy willows and seed cones, a riot of color and texture crackling through that white world. Soon enough our little wilderness path could have been a grand avenue decked out for a returning general's triumphant procession. Birds hunkered down for the long winter crept out of their burrows, chirruping their alarmed delight as they grew drunk on berries. A narrow fox darted across our path, a starling clutched in its mouth, sparing us a dismissive glance as it slunk back into the velvet shadow.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“The tea in my mug was blue-black, and floating across the surface were tiny lily pads, each cradling a perfect white flower. Shadows flitted across the surface of the water, as if above it was a canopy of dark trees admitting only the thinnest of sunbeams.
Wendell swore. He reached for the cup, but I was already cradling it. "Are they blooming?" I said. Indeed, as I watched, another flower opened, petals waving in a wind that did not belong to the calm Cambridge weather.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“Up close, the smell of woody, dusty vanilla was so strong it seemed like it would seep into my skin and hair and stay like smoke. The roots were wet and dark, forbidding in a way I had to grit my teeth to get past. The magic was subtle enough that most folks would just stay away, but obvious to anyone who'd felt it before.”
― Reena McCarty, The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains

“He seemed unable to enjoy the stark beauty of it all, the wild terror of the mountains, the towering glaciers, the little ribbons of time that clung to the rock in the form of frozen cataracts. The aurora danced above us both nights, green and blue and white undulating together, a cold ocean up there in the sky, and even that he barely glanced at. On the second night, he used his magic to summon a thick green hedge of prickly holly and a trio of willow saplings that enfolded our tent in drapery like bed curtains to keep out the chill wind.
"Will you look at that!" I couldn't help but exclaiming as I sat by the fire, gazing up at the riot of light. I will admit, I wished for him to share the sight with me and was disappointed when he only sighed.
"Give me hills round as apples and forests of such green you could bathe in it," he said. "None of these hyperborean baubles."
"Baubles!" I exclaimed, and would have snapped at him, but his face as he gazed into the fire was open and forlorn, and I realized that he wasn't trying to be irksome---he missed his home. He had been longing for it all along, and this place, so alien and unfriendly, had sharpened the longing into a blade.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“The walls of the compartment were covered in flowering ivy. The floor had turned into some sort of stone, damp and mossy, and one of the walls seemed to have vanished entirely, offering a view of a lantern-lit path that bent towards several shadowy dwellings, turreted and roofed in green turf. Wendell lay asleep in his bed like a forest king in his leafy bower, oblivious, covered in blankets apart from a foot that stuck out.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“When Mouse opened Thistlemarsh's bloated front doors, her breath caught in her throat.
Without the familiar wood beneath her hands, Mouse would have mistaken Thistlemarsh Hall for a completely different building. Polished oak floors gleamed, and the faded fabric in the tapestry was returned to its original glory. Emerald woven leaves were caught midflutter on the trees, and pink and gold faces shouted joyously to one another. Outside the hunters, the Faerie figures faded into shades of pale green. Mouse had never noticed the difference before, as everything was bleached by sunlight into a dingy gray. Layers of detail were brought to light for the first time. She could even make out the tiered towers of Thistlemarsh Hall itself above the trees.”
― Moorea Corrigan, Thistlemarsh

“Warm, low light colored everything, although Mouse could not spot its source. Sanded circles of glass in every color glittered from long threads that hung off branches, a galaxy speckling the air. A heap of blankets covered Thornwood’s bed each made of a different material. From where she stood, she could make out the top three layers: a pale green blanket made of silk, a dark red one of velvet, and a mustard yellow one in cotton. Judging by the fabrics’ slope, more layers hid underneath.
They led Thornwood to his bed. Mouse had to hold him back as Mickelwaithe turned down the sheets. She let him go, and he sank into the cocoon of fabric. The scent of wood, must, and mint fluttered off the blankets as Mickelwaithe spread them over him. Thornwood’s expression softened in moments, and his breathing evened as he fell asleep.”
― Moorea Corrigan, Thistlemarsh

“Tasteful strings of flowers looped across the banisters in honor of the Spring Festival, at Mouse's request. The deep brown of the polished wood walls paired beautifully with the fine dark red carpet leading through to the unused ballroom and the study. Thornwood's magic had not retouched the bones of the great elk, but the horns were free of cobwebs and glowed white in the daylight drifting in from the clean windows above.
The tapestry stood out like a diamond in a crown, winding around the stone portion of the wall. The threads glittered in green, gold, red, silver, and blue. The faded Faerie and mortal faces were bold again, telling the story of the hunt.”
― Moorea Corrigan, Thistlemarsh