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“The sunset bled into the edges of the village. Smoke curled out of the cottage chimney like a crooked finger.”
― Sara Pascoe, Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For

“This evening I spied her in the back orchard. I decided to sacrifice one of my better old shirts and carried it out to her. The weather’s been warm of late. Buds on the apple trees are ready to burst. Usually by this time of the year, at that time of day, the back orchard is full of screaming children. Damut’s boys were the only two. They were on the terrace below her, running through the slanted sunlight, chasing each other around tree trunks. She stood above them, like a merlin watching rabbits play.”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“The early women rise before I do. Their lamps splinter the gloom of the kitchens. They chatter in whispers as they brew tea for the cooks. Windows are open to counter the heat of the ovens. Outside, the sky is as black as my soul.”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“Gossip is like thread wound over a spindle of truth, changing its shape.”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“If one does not react to gossip, the informer hushes more quickly.”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“This world would be a pleasant place if people didn’t inhabit it.”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“The summer sun bowing out threw slashes of colour between the buildings. London looked big, empty, and lonely. She stood in the doorway, like a cat trying to make up its mind.”
― Sara Pascoe, Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For

“And she was right. No matter how they tried, the two humans, with the cat but without the microchip, couldn’t connect to headquarters. Raya heard a loud popping sound in her mind, like a huge rubber band being snapped, like a glider plane released from a Piper Cub.”
― Sara Pascoe, Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For

“Oscar looked up from his plate, and if a cat could laugh, he would have. ‘Boy, that’s ugly, even for a jinn. Looks like a cross between a rat, a frog and a bottlebrush.”
― Sara Pascoe, Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For

“But let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar

“Everyone thought she was so confident and together, but that was really a mask she wore to protect herself. The old adage “Don’t judge a book by its coverâ€� applied to her.”
― Hope Worthington, Shifting Moon: Shifting Moon Saga, Book 1

“10. The stranger’s breath also came out in small white clouds. The man was clearly a lot fitter than his charges and wasn’t breathing nearly as heavily. “I have been sent â€� that’s all you need to know for now. As to the walls, there are secrets in even the thickest walls, young master. You just need to know where to look.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“Theirs was a bond forged from necessity, hurt, and a shared, intimate understanding of hell.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Burning God

“2. Alice Ereldon was in her late twenties, unmarried, and she had a reputation. She was an attractive twenty-eight-year-old. Her long brown hair hung down over her shoulders and she could conveniently sweep it over her face, partially hiding her dazzling amber eyes. The eyes were her secret weapon; she could look like a cat lining up its prey, and her prey was usually young male courtiers.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“11. Four Eastern Aramin warriors drew their swords and moved towards Armand. Aaron started to move forward, thinking Armand would need some help. At the same moment Armand dropped down to one knee and to the tune of sixteen bow strings, sixteen feathered barbs crisscrossed the space that the Eastern Aramin warriors had advanced into. Wolfasten held up his hand and shouted to his men, “Hold your positions!â€� Then he nodded to Armand. “You are the conductor of this ring of arrows, I presume?”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“Remy glanced up and found herself staring into Logan’s eyes. She was lost to his stare and forgot that anyone else was around. Again, that feeling of protectiveness washed over her, and this time, something else. There was also a sense of familiarity when she looked into his eyes.”
― Hope Worthington, Shifting Moon: Shifting Moon Saga, Book 1

“6. Before there was any more discussion Fowler pulled his long knife from his belt and prised open the lid of the chest. There was a gasp of astonishment from the company. Where there should have been clothes, there was the Empress Sylva, curled up in a foetal position. She cursed. So near, but still so far.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“14. ‘This statue was erected in memory of Emile Razan, the Hadoka, Aralmerian freedom fighter and healer of the desert.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“1. In 1511, the solitude and peace of Martha’s sanctuary was rudely interrupted by the arrival of a new conscripted member. Tall, with long fair hair and intelligent green eyes, the woman was of striking appearance. She was in her mid-thirties and held herself with a regal demeanour. This was Sylva, the deposed Empress of the North.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“8. Sylva suddenly remembered one of the teachings of Martha that she had copied out. The person who listens, gains wisdom â€� She who just talks only expels air. Naomi had told Sylva that she should let Martha’s words guide her. Maybe she was correct. Anyway, what harm could it do to spend a few moments listening to the huntsman?”
― Robert Reid, The Empress

“...that means we’re in love,â€� His eyes were never leaving her lips, “madly so.â€�
The spirits waltzed across the leaves, enclosing two lovers, singing their own melody as the bodies became one.”
― Ezgi YücebaÅŸ, Curse of the Stars

“It was ironic the Home had been her only refuge after her recent ordeal. The debt of gratitude she owed the place chafed alongside her well-tended resentment.”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“Part of her railed against the injustice, and sympathized with the labor organizers, fighting and dying for workersâ€� rights. And, she hated to admit, a conflicting part yearned to find shelter in that privileged world and the protections it offered. To be freed from her ball and chain of anxiety . . . to float up to their cushioned realm of perpetual safety and comfort.”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“Her original attraction to his handsome face and rarified status was more akin to mooning over some cinema star, like Rudolph Valentino or Richard Barthelmess.”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“What happened to change girls from being normal and relatively easy to understand when they were young, to being such frustrating mysteries as they grew older?”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“The city’s threats she understood . . . and more importantly, knew how to avoid.”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“Orphans with dreams were on the express train to heartbreak.”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“But you’re still allowed a summer vacation?â€� He turned to her in exaggerated surprise. “Father’s not a monster!”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“And remember that summer promises tend to shrivel with the autumn leaves.”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers

“Just keep one foot on the ground while you reach for the stars.”
― Kady Ambrose, All That Shimmers