Mosca said nothing. The word โdamselโ rankled with her. She suddenly thought of the clawed girl from the night before, jumping the filch on an icy street. Much the same age and build as Beamabeth, and far more beleaguered. What made a girl a โdamsel in distressโ? Were they not allowed claws? Mosca had a hunch that if all damsels had claws they would spend a lot less time โin distressโ.
Frances HardingeBrand a man as a thief and no one will ever hire him for honest labor - he will be a hardened robber within weeks. The brand does not reveal a person's nature, it shapes it.
Frances HardingeIt did seem hard to be doing something heroic while everyone was too busy to notice.
Frances HardingeIt was all very well being told that she could do nothing to make things better. Neverfell did not have the kind of mind that could take that quietly. She did not have the kind of mind that could be quiet at all.
Frances HardingeMosca and Saracen shared, if not a friendship, at least the solidarity of the generally despised. Mosca assumed that Saracen had his reasons for his persecution of terriers and his possessive love of the malthouse roof. In turn, when Mosca had interrupted Saracenโs self-important nightly patrol and scooped him up, Saracen had assumed that she too had her reasons.
Frances Hardinge