Later, when we’ve found this mysterious ship of Hector’s and are safely away, when I have time to rest and worry and a quiet corner to hide in, I will coldly remember that being a...

One thing I have learned from many years of watching my father is that some people, the best ones, are motivated more by the chance to prove themselves than by a command to serve. It...

Sometimes it’s best to let your opponent think he has control.

Maybe a large, single dose of pain now is better than the slow, burning pain of withering hope.

I hadn’t realized having ones life saved could be so humiliating.

I won’t lie to you. There is always a cost. All I can gurantee is that it will be the right thing.””It’s insane,” he says, but without vehemence.”It’s faith,” I say.

His Majesty, may he live forever and prosper greatly…His Majesty, may sun finches warble sweet melodies in his ear…His Majesty, may orchids bloom in the wake of his passing…His Majesty, may minstrels compose epics at...

I think sometimes when we find love we pretend it away, or ignore it, or tell ourselves we’re imagining it. Because it is the most painful kind of hope there is.

Peace is such hard work. Harder than war. It takes way more effort to forgive than to kill.

From the mouths of the innocents flows truth.

I loved and lost and survived.

is a myth. Invented by the war torn to make sense of the horrific. If we die, it will be so that others may live. Truly honorable death, the only honorable death, is one that...

I want to feel the victory of being desired by someone I once found desirable.

The mind of God is a mystery and none can understand it.

Speak of evil, and you summon it.

I hope so. But I meant me. I’m beautiful to me.

the fire of kindness.

I crouch hidden among the boulders, my body broken and bloodied. Below me, someone is about to murder my best friend, the one person who understands me. If I act, I will likely lose my...

Walking away from my desert companions feels like cutting off a limb. How does one say good-bye to an arm? One doesn’t, I suppose. One pretends it isn’t happening.

It’s possible I’ve been through too much, lost too much. War damages different people in different ways; Hector taught me that. King Alejandro became spineless and incapable. His father before him was rash and unpredictable,...

…alone is such a nebulous state when one is queen.

Reading can only take you so far, up to the moment where you must take action with your own hands