QUOTATIONS: THE QUEEN OF NOTHING BY HOLLY BLACK
BOOK ONE
PROLOGUE
"You;re a prince. Everything is yours. You have only to take it. I want that. Get it for me." - Lady Asha page 8
"If he could not get the High King's attention for something good, then perhaps he could get it for something really, really bad." - Cardan page 10
CHAPTER 1
"We don't always have a choice in our fate." - Jude page 13
"Dad wants the stupid crown and you want it and everyone wants it. Well, I don't. It's cursed." - Oak page 13
"All power is cursed. The most terrible among us will do anything to get it, and those who'd wield power best don't want it thrust upon them. But that doesn't mean they can avoid their responsibilities forever." - Jude page 13
CHAPTER 2
"It feels good to be fighting someone other than myself." - Jude page 26
"I'm an optimist." - Jude page 28
CHAPTER 3
"I am not going to pretend away the world I grew up in because she hates the idea of it." - Jude page 32
"Love is stupid. All we do is break one another's hearts." - Heather page 32
"Love might be stupid, but you're not." - Jude page 33
"This world has enough monsters, enough people who want to take advantage of me or hurt me or take away my rights. I don't need to know there's a whole other world full of monsters." - Heather page 33
"Do you know what makes people love one another? Well, no one else does, either. But scientists study it, and there's all this bizarre stuff about pheromones and facial symmetry and the circumstances under which you first met. People are weird. Our bodies are weird. Maybe I can't help being attracted to her the same way flies can't help being attracted to carnivorous plants." - Heather page 34
"I am not a forgiving person these days." - Jude page 35
CHAPTER 4
"There's nothing I want to hear out of your lying mouth." - Jude page 36
"Also no. No, I won't help you. No, I won't hear you explain why I should. It really is a magical word: no. You say whatever bullshit you want, and I just say no." - Jude page 37
"I gave him everything. But he said that all the story had gone out of me." - Taryn page 41
"I'm not a bad person." - Taryn page 42
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
"My choices now are not good." - Jude page 61
"Jude, you can't really think I don't know it's you. I knew you from the moment you walked into the brugh." - Cardan page 63
"I'm not the betrayer here." - Jude page 64
"No, you're afraid. But why would you be afraid of me?" - Cardan page 64
"I hate you. You sent me into exile. Everything you say to me, everything you promise, it's all a trick. And I, stupid enough to believe you once." - Jude page 64
CHAPTER 8
"Wisdom is for the meek. And it seldom helps them as much as they believe it will." - Madoc page 69
"I am the Queen of Elfhame. Even though I am the queen in exile. I am still the queen." - Jude page 73
CHAPTER 9
"When I go to sleep, it is with a bitterness in my throat, one I haven't felt in a long time, one that comes from not being able to affect the things that matter, even though they are happening right in front of me." - Jude page 78
"As you can see, I like beautiful things." - Grimsen page 83
CHAPTER 10
"There is no banquet too abundant for a starving man." - Madoc page 85
"For what we want most, we will take almost any chance." - Madoc page 85
"I am going to give him a chance to prove he's a good ruler." - Madoc page 85
"I assumed he broke your heart. An eye for an eye, a heart for a heart." - Madoc page 87
"I honed my instincts in battle. Sometimes those instincts are still there when there is no more war." - Madoc page 87
"If it's hard for you to bear the what you did, give me the weight." - Madoc page 88
"Do not think I will forget your loyalty." - Madoc page 88
CHAPTER 11
"I hope betrayal was its own reward." - Jude page 92
"Gloat all you like. I deserve it. I know what I did, Jude. I was a fool." - Ghost page 92
"And that's why you betrayed us? You thought we were too judgmental?" - Jude page 93
"It is no life to be always under someone's control, subject to their will and whim." - Ghost page 95
"Remember what it felt like to be powerless?" - Ghost page 95
"You can't stay for my sake." - Ghost page 96
CHAPTER 12
"Do not insult me by lying anymore." - Oriana page 97
"The only reason I'm still here is that I don't know how to leave." - Jude page 97
"If you're looking for reasons why he disappointed you, by all accounts, Prince Cardan was a disappointment from the beginning." - Oriana page 100
CHAPTER 13
"Which means I have power. I just have to discover it and then find a way to wield it against him." - Jude page 106
"I'm on my own side. You of all people should understand that." - Jude page 107
CHAPTER 14
"Fear steals my breath." - Jude page 112
"You're still loyal to the puppet." - Madoc page 112
"He exiled you. He reviled you. He will never see you as anything but beneath him." - Madoc page 113
"I've made mistakes." - Jude page 113
"It's time to submit to your punishment." - Madoc page 113
"Will you defy me to the last?" - Madoc page 113
"I never wanted to be your enemy, But I didn't want to be in your power, either." - Jude page 113
"You were always good. Just never enough." - Madoc page 114
CHAPTER 15
"I've been waiting half my life to put you in the ground." - Vivienne page 116
"The only way you'd be the end of me is by accident." - Madoc page 116
"I am too tired for anger." - Jude page 118
"It's ridiculous the way everyone acts like killing a king is going to make someone better at being one. Imagine if, in the mortal world, a lawyer passed the bar by killing another lawyer." - Vivienne page 121
CHAPTER 16
"I do not pause to ask myself why I am in such a panic to save someone for whom I swore I rooted out every feeling. I will not think about that." - Jude page 123
"You're a liar. A dirty, mortal liar." - Cardan page 128
"Never have I so wished there was a way for me to show I was telling the truth. But there isn't. No oath of mine carries any weight." - Jude page 128
"Do not touch her." - Cardan page 128
"I don't even have the strength to fight back." - Jude page 128
"She is my wife. The rightful High Queen of Elfhame. And most definitely not in exile." - Cardan page 129
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER 17
"It's good to have one person who doesn't know me well enough to be angry." - Jude page 133
CHAPTER 18
"I hate that he saw me when I was at my most vulnerable." - Jude page 134
"The last thing I want is to have this conversation, but the longer I put it off, the larger it will loom in my mind." - Jude page 135
"Make your threats. Do your worst." - Jude page 135
"It was terrifying watching you fall. I mean, you're generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then I was furious. I am not sure I have ever been that angry before." - Cardan page 136
"Mortals are fragile." - Jude page 136
"Not you. You never break." - Cardan page 136
"Stop playing games." - Jude page 136
"But that's what you do, you trick people. Nicasia, Madoc, Balekin, Orlagh, Me. I thought you'd admire me a little for it, that I could trick you. I thought you'd be angry, of course, but not quite like this." - Cardan page 136
"Pardoned by the crown. Meaning by the King of Faerie. Or its queen. You could have returned anytime you wanted." - Cardan page 137
"I didn't mean to hurt you. No, it's not that, not exactly. I didn't think I could hurt you. And I never thought you would be afraid of me." - Cardan page 138
"Well, I was hurt, and yes, you scare me. You've always scared me. You gave me every reason to fear your capriciousness and your cruelty." - Jude page 138
"And telling him this feels a little like throwing off a heavy weight, except that weight is supposed to be my armor, and without it, I am afraid I am going to be entirely exposed. But I keep talking anyway, as though I no longer have control of my tongue," - Jude page 138
"You despised me. When you said you wanted me, it felt like the world had turned upside down." - Jude page 138
"I can see why you thought what you did. I suppose I am not an easy person to trust. And maybe I ought not to be trusted, but let me say this: I trust you." - Cardan page 138
"I never minded being a minor villain, but it's possible." - Cardan page 139
"I want you here by my side, as my queen." - Cardan page 139
Cardan: This is my room, and that's my wife.
Bomb: So you keep telling everyone.
page 142
Jude: Maybe he's like to hear me scream.
Cardan: I would. And perhaps one day I will.
Cardan: I would. And perhaps one day I will.
_ page 142
CHAPTER 19
"I'm always hopeful when it comes to him." - Bomb page 143
"You shouldn't let anyone command you. Not even me." - Bomb page 144
"He would find a game and obsess over it until it was conquered, then burn all the pieces. Once you're no longer a challenge, he will despise you." - Lady Asha page 146
"And you're giving me this warning out of the kindness of your heart?" - Jude page 146
"A part of him will always delight in cruelty. Even if he has changed, he could change again." - Jude page 147
"I hate being a fool. I hate the idea of my emotions getting the better of me, of making me weak. But my fear of being a fool turned me into one." - Jude page 147
"Maybe it isn't the worst thing to want to be loved, even if you're not. Even if it hurts. Maybe being human isn't always being weak. Maybe it was the shame that was the problem." - Jude page 147
"My lady, I will always be a challenge." - Jude page 147
CHAPTER 20
"You think everything's a game." - Taryn page 158
"Unlike Locke, I never though love was a game. You may accuse me of much, but not that." - Cardan page 158
"He wants you to like him. But just because he wants you to doesn't mean you should." - Taryn page 160
CHAPTER 21
"You need someone to protect your person - and your door." - Fand page 162
"Do you really expect me to give up such enormous power on your say-so?" - Jude page 163
"Many think that, but few are bold enough to say it to my face." - Cardan page 163
"Everyone must make sacrifices." - Randalin page 164
"Unfortunately, what I am good at is getting under people's skin. But at least I am also good at lying." - Jude page 167
"There are things people shouldn't get a taste for. I guess magic is like that." - Heather page 169
"I'm the stupid one." - Heather page 170
"To you, I offer my honey wine and the hospitality of my table. But to traitors and oath breakers, I offer my queen's hospitality instead. The hospitality of knives." - Cardan page 170
"I'm here now." - Cardan page 172
"It's okay to want something that's going to hurt, I remind myself." - Jude page 172
"Every kiss seems to make my thoughts more drugged, my skin more flushed." - Jude page 172
"You may do with me whatever you like. Please oh please. All I want is you." - Jude page 172
"Mock me all you like. Whatever I imagined then, now it is I who would beg and grovel for a kind word from your lips." - Cardan page 174
"By you, I am forever undone." - Cardan page 174
"We have lived in our armor for so long, you and I. And now I am not sure if either of us knows how to remove it." - Cardan page 174
"I missed you. In the mortal world, when I thought you were my enemy, I still missed you." - Jude page 175
"My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned." - Cardan page 175
"How do people like us take off our armor? One piece at a time." - Jude page 175
CHAPTER 22
"I don't like giving my enemies what they want." - Cardan page 177
"It's hard to work against someone you love." - Cardan page 177
"Whatever happens, remember, I will be watching over you from the shadows." - Bomb page 179
"It's you I love, I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn't have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours. You probably guessed as much, but just in case you didn't." - Cardan page 179
"Every time I think you cannot rise any higher, you prove me wrong." - Madoc page 181
"A king is not his crown." - Cardan page 183
CHAPTER 23
"I need to know who is still loyal to me." - Jude page 192
Taryn: I'll make you look good.
Jude: I'm going to have to look really good.
-page 193
"I'm not sure what to say. I don't feel calm at all. I am a maelstrom of emotions. All I want to do is scream." - Jude page 193
"Because wisdom ought to urge you not to court my displeasure." - Jude page 199
CHAPTER 24
"If you ever loved him, help me." - Jude page 213
CHAPTER 25
"There's something I could never tell you while I lived. I love you, Liliver. I've loved you and despaired. Before I die, I want you to know that." - Roach page 221
"I hate that he loves you." - Nicasia page 230
"Tell me what I must slay, what i must steal, tell me the riddle I must solve or the had I must trick. Only tell me the way, and I will do it, no matter the danger, no matter the hardship, no matter the cost." - Jude page 231
CHAPTER 26
"I said that if I couldn't be better than my enemies, then I would become worse. Much, much worse." - Jude page 235
"Let me have everything I ever wanted, everything I ever dreamed, and eternal misery along with it. Let me live on with an ice shard through my heart." - Jude page 235
"If fighting breaks out, focus on what's in front of you. Fight your fight. Let someone worry about theirs." - Grima Mog page 236
"I felt that if I could control everything and everyone, then nothing could hurt me." - Jude page 238
"I do love you, I will always love you." - Jude page 238
"Two paths are before me, but only one leads to victory." - Jude page 238
"I will bend my head to you, and only you." - Madoc page 241
CHAPTER 27
"He holds me as though I am the only solid thing in the world." - Jude page 242
"I only know how to be cruel or to laugh when I am discomposed." - Cardan - page 249
"I love you." - Jude page 249
"I have not made myself easy to love." - Cardan page 249
"I hid a lot, I guess. I thought if I didn't, if I let myself love you, I would burn up like a match. Like the whole matchbook." - Jude page 250
"I knew little else, but I always knew you." - Cardan page 251
EPILOGUE
"I raised you to be uncompromising." - Madoc page 257
"I want mercy, or, as you said, something like it." - Madoc page 259
"There will be struggles to come, I am certain, but right now I am equally sure we will find our way through them." - Jude page 262
Jude: To family
Taryn: And Faerieland
Oak: And pizza
Heather: And stories
Vivienne: And new beginnings
Cardan: And scheming great schemes
- page 262
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