“So here's the truth - I love you. I love everything about you – the way you stick up for people even when it costs you. The way you keep trying to do the right thing even when you're not exactly sure what the right thing is. I love how you put words together. You're as skilled with words as any knife fighter with a blade. You can put an enemy down on his back, or you can raise people up so they find what's best in themselves. You've changed my life. You've given me the words I need to become whatever I want.. You don't talk down to them. You respect them, and anybody can tell you're actually interested in what they have to say.I love the way you ride a horse – how you stick there like an upland thistle, whooping like a Demonai. I love the way you throw back your head and stomp your feet when you dance. I love how you go after what you want – whether it's kisses or a queendom.I love your skin, like copper dusted over with gold. And your eyes – they're the color of a forest lake shaded by evergreens. One of the secret places that only the Demonai know about.I love the scent of you – when you've been out in the fresh air, and that perfume you put behind your ears sometimes.Believe it or not, I even love your road smell – of sweat and horses and leather and wool.I want to breathe you in for the rest of my life.”

“Ignorance doesn't lead to salvation, nor does knowledge pave the way to sin. - Cinda Williams Chima”

“For Hanalea the Warrior!”

“Can you see why I can't stand a lie? People have been lying to me all my life. Even the person I loved the most in the world."Sometimes people lie for good reasons," Jonah said. "To keep you safe, or to avoid breaking your heart, or to make it possible for you to go on living.”

“Come on! We've had too many dead heroes. Being a coward increases your odds of survival-that's my motto. I'm counting on bieng faster than them.”

“Allison was at full strength when it came to one thing:attitude.”

“Do you think I'm stupid? Only a fool would use a fast-acting poison on a target with a taster. The taster goes down before the king gets it into his system." Lila blinked at him, as if surprised by this display of logic.”

“Even if the job you’re assigned is not to your liking, a Matelon will see it done.”

“Even when we win, we lose, Lyss thought.”

“Matelon gripped both her hands. “We are soldiers,” he said. “We are not game pieces on a board. Don’t let them play us. Give this thing a chance.”Lyss gently pulled free. “You’re wrong, Captain,” she said. “We never had a chance. At the end of the day, that is all that we are—game pieces. If you don’t know that by now, you soon will.”

“If someone grabs you in the street, hit hard and fast, because you may not get a second chance.”