Maidens stand still, they are lovely statues and all admire them. Witches do not stand still. I was neither, but better that I err on the side of witchery, witchery that unlocks towers and empties ships.

No one is now what they were before the war. There’s just no getting any of it back.

After love, no one is what they were before.

She knew herself, how she had slowly, over years, become a cat, a wolf, a snake, anything but a girl. How she had wrung out her girlhood like death.

Remember this when you are queen,” he whispered hoarsely. “I moved the earth and the water for you.

You can never know how your clock runs. But it does run - and always faster than you think.

You will always fall in love, and it will always be like having your throat cut, just that fast.