Helda's been trying to impress me with the embroidery on the sheets. One more minute and I thought I might use them to hang myself." "My mother did the embroidery," Bittterblue said. Katsa clapped her mouth shut and glared at Helda. "Thank you, Helda, for mentioning that detail.

When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?

And what was it about the dark that made her question things she’d never questioned before, in the day.

How acutely sometimes the presence or absence of people mattered

There isn't a simple person anywhere in this world.

And of course she understood now why her body wanted to run whenever he appeared. It was a correct instinct, for there was nothing to be got from this but sadness.

I'm not good at love. I'm like a barbed creature. I push everyone I love away.