Nic

“There's no such thing as a decision. There never was. There's whether you've had a good day or a bad day, there's going forward because there's nothing behind and running because if you stand still any longer you'll fall over. There's movement or there's stagnation, there's the past that drives you and the regimental chaplain who preaches that only the obedient are free and the women who say you have no feelings, but they can't live without you.”
― John le Carré, The Night Manager

“Shit," she muttered. She'd heard the word from her guard many times, but only now did she understand the real use of profanity. That one word said exactly what she was feeling, said it better than a hundred other words could have done.”
― Erika Johansen, The Queen of the Tearling

“I need my own armor, and soon. A silly queen I'll look when I've been slowly flattened into a man."

Mace grinned. "You wouldn't be the first queen of this kingdom to be mistaken for a king.”
― Erika Johansen, The Queen of the Tearling

“Kelsea didn't recognize the guard, but she knew his voice. After a moment she realized, bemused, that it was Dyer. He'd shaved his red beard.
"Dyer, is that your face under there?"
Dyer flushed bright red. Pen snorted gleefully, and Kibb clapped Dyer on the back. "I told him, Lady...now we can see every time he blushes.”
― Erika Johansen, The Queen of the Tearling