Yes, yes, mistress, I shall go and accomplish your task. OnlyโI was not only sent to kill the Leucrotta. There is a maiden in a towerโ" At this the Witch spat, again rolling her marvelous eyes. "Those revolting creatures are always getting themselves locked up. If only they would stay that way.
Catherynne M. ValenteWhen little ones say they want to go home, they almost never mean it. They mean they are tired of this particular game and would like to start another.
Catherynne M. ValenteDo you think I am a fool, Masha? All this time, and you speak to me as though I were a flighty pinprick of a girl. I am a magician! Did you never think, even once, that I loved lipstick and rouge for more than their color alone? I am a student of their lore, and it is arcane and hermetic beyond the dreams of alchemists. Did you never wonder why I gave you so many pots, so many creams, so much perfume?
Catherynne M. ValenteKoschei, Koschei,โ she whispered. โWhat would I have been if I had never seen the birds? I am no one; I am nothing. I am a blank paper on which you and your magic wrote a girl. Just the kind of girl you wanted, all hungry and hurt and needing. A machine for loving you. Nothing in me was not made by you.
Catherynne M. ValenteIโm a monster,โ said the shadow of the Marquess suddenly. โEveryone says so.โ The Minotaur glanced up at her. โSo are we all, dear,โ said the Minotaur kindly. โThe thing to decide is what kind of monster to be. The kind who builds towns or the kind who breaks them.
Catherynne M. ValenteAll children are heartless. They have not grown a heart yet, which is why they can climb tall trees and say shocking things and leap so very high that grown-up hearts flutter in terror. Hearts weigh quite a lot. That is why it takes so long to grow one. But, as in their reading and arithmetic and drawing, different children proceed at different speeds. (It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.) Some small ones are terrible and fey, Utterly Heartless. Some are dear and sweet and Hardly Heartless at all.
Catherynne M. Valente