briar

“She is the virgin-harlot,” Bijaz said. “She is vulgar, witty, knowledgeable to a depth that terrifies, cruel when she is most kind, unthinking while she thinks, and when she seeks to build she is as destructive as a coriolis storm.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

“I have tried to dismantle you, Gideon Nav! The Ninth House poisoned you, we trod you underfoot—I took you to this killing field as my slave—you refuse to die, and you pity me! Strike me down. You’ve won. I’ve lived my whole wretched life at your mercy, yours alone, and God knows I deserve to die at your hand. You are my only friend. I am undone without you.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth

“There had been another girl who grew up alongside Harrow - but she had died before Harrow was born.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Harrow the Ninth

“We are imperfect beings," Munira said, "How could we ever fit in a perfect world?”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll