Drakeryn

“Our hopes rest with you, Mister Brekker. If you fail, all the world will suffer for it."
"Oh, it's worse than that, Van Eck. If I fail, I don't get paid.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Because hope is a knife that can cut through the foundations of the world," said Sumi. Her voice was suddenly crystalline and clear, with none of her prior whimsy. She looked at Nancy with calm, steady eyes. "Hope hurts. That's what you need to learn, and fast, if you don't want it to cut you open from the inside out. Hope is bad. Hope means you keep on holding to things that won't ever be so again, and so you bleed an inch at a time until there's nothing left. Ely-Eleanor is always saying 'don't use this word' and 'don't use that word,' but she never bans the ones that really bad. She never bans hope.”
― Seanan McGuire, Every Heart a Doorway

“It could,” acknowledged Slate, “but show me a clandestine operation without leaks, and I’ll show you one where everybody involved is dead.” “We’re a clandestine operation,” said Caliban. There was an awkward silence.”
― T. Kingfisher, The Wonder Engine

“Her time is better spent with me. The thorn wood is a path you walk alone, boy king.”
“But it’s a very arduous path,” Nikolai said. “Who will carry my snacks?”
― Leigh Bardugo, King of Scars