Raisa

“Red wrote too much too fast. Her pen had a heart inside, and the nib was a wound in a vein. She stained the page with herself. She sometimes forgets what she wrote, save that it was true, and the writing hurt. But butterfly wings break when touched. Red knows her own weaknesses as well as anyone. She presses too hard, breaks what she would embrace, tears what she would touch to her teeth.”
― Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

“I never thought I'd find such peace in simple reading. The words were a kind of magic, taking me by the hand and sweeping me into lands unseen, times unremembered, thoughts unimagined. Through all my years in San Michon, all the blood and sweat and darkling roads I walked, I learned one of my greatest lessons sitting in that Library with those girls in the still of the night.
A life without books is a life not lived.”
― Jay Kristoff, Empire of the Vampire

“It is my empress's will to know the whole of your tale.'
Gabriel reached into his battered britches, fished about under the monster's stare. Finally, he retrieved a tarnished royale from his pocket. 'Here.'
'What is that for?' Jean-François demanded.
'I want you to take this coin to market, and buy me a fuck to give.”
― Jay Kristoff, Empire of the Vampire

“There is a fine line between a saint and a witch, and I wonder if you are prepared to walk it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar