Missy

“The first arrow struck Semian in the leg, just above the knee. Semian howled, staggered and fell back into the water. The second arrow struck one of the other riders in the back. The third arrow hit the wounded dragon in the neck, which only made it hiss and snap. Kemir didn't stop to fire a fourth; instead he jogged a little deeper into the forest and then turned and followed the path of the river. The knights wouldn't follow him into the trees, he was quite sure of that, and the dragons would never find him in the dark. Not killing Rider Semian, he discovered, was immensely satisfying. Killing him was something he could do only once. He smiled to himself.”
― Stephen Deas, The Adamantine Palace

“The stag had been showing me my strength-not just the price of mercy but the power it bestowed. And mercy was something the Darkling would never understand.”
― Leigh Bardugo

“I had spared the stag's life. The power of that life belonged to me as surely as it belonged to the man who had taken it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone

“We're all ghosts. We all carry, inside us, people who came before us.”
― Liam Callanan, The Cloud Atlas