Jacque ⚜

“repeat after me:
you owe
no one
your forgiveness.

- except maybe yourself.”
― Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself in This One

“Agnes Amaranth is the strong sister, steady as a stone and twice as hard; she walks second into the tower. She's never liked mother-stories much. They make her think of her own mother and wish she'd been someone else, someone who would've sent their daddy running for the hills the first time he raised a hand against her. Someone like the Mother herself. Mothers are supposed to be weak, weepy creatures, women who give birth to their children and drift peacefully into death, bur the Mother is none of those things. She's the brave one, the ruthless one, the witch who traded the birthing-chamber for the battlefield, the kitchen for the knife. She is bloody Boadicea and heartless Hera, the mother who became a monster. None of the stories mention the oiled brown of her skin or the smooth lines of scars along her cheeks, but Agnes knows her by the iron set of her jaw, the unyielding line of her spine. A black python wraps around one arm, heavy-bodied and red eyed. Agnes bows her head and the Mother bows back to her, like two soldiers meeting in battle.”
― Alix E. Harrow, The Once and Future Witches

“She brutalized flour and butter, she visited wartime atrocities to milk and yeast. She committed acts of crumpet.”
― T. Kingfisher, Toad Words and Other Stories

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
― Mae West