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“I adore you. I want to play games with you. I want to tell you all the truths I have to give. And if you really think you’re a monster, then let’s be monsters together.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Whom have you fallen in love with?' I ask.

'Well, there was you,' the prince says. 'When we were children.'

'Me?' I ask incredulously.

'You didn't know?' He appears to be merry in the face of my astonishment. 'Oh yes. Though you were a year my senior, and it was hopeless, I absolutely mooned over you. When you were gone from Court, I refused any food but tea and toast for a month.'

I cannot help snorting at the sheer absurdity of his statement.

He puts a hand to my heart. 'Ah, and now you laugh. It is my curse to adore cruel women.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“I thought love was a fascination, or a desire to be around someone, or wanting to make them happy. I believed it just happened, like a slap to the face, and left the way the sting from such a blow fades. That’s why it was easy for me to believe it could be false or manipulated or influenced by magic.

Until I met you, I didn’t understand to feel loved, one has to feel known. And that, outside of my family, I had never really loved because I hadn’t bothered to know the other person. But I know you. And you have to come back to me, Wren, because no one gets us but us. You know why you’re not a monster, but I might be. I know why throwing me in your dungeon meant there was still something between us. We are messes and we are messed up and I don’t want to go through this world without the one person I can’t hide from and who can’t hide from me.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Would you consider actually marrying me?â€�

She looks up at him, obviously surprised and a little suspicious. “Really?�

He presses a kiss to her hair. “If you did, I would be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to prove the sincerity of my feelings.�

“What’s that?� she asks, peering up at him.

“Become a king of some place instead of running away from all royal responsibility.�

She laughs. “You wouldn’t rather sit by my throne on a leash?�

“That does seem easier,� he admits. “I would make an excellent consort.�

“Then I’ll have to marry you, Prince Oak of the Greenbriar line,â€� Wren says, with a sharp-toothed smile. “Just to make you suffer.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Pain is better than being dead.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Do you want-?' he starts, but she is already pushing up her dress.

'I want,' she says. 'That's my problem. I want and I want and I want.'

'What do you want?' he asks, voice soft.

'Everything. Charm me. Rip me open. Ruin me. Go too far.'

He shudders at her words, shaking his head against them.

She goes on, whispering against his skin. 'You cannot understand. I am a chasm that will never be full. I am hunger. I am need. I cannot be sated. IF you try, I will swallow you up. I will take all of you and want more. I will use you. I will drain you until you are nothing more than a husk.'

'Use me, then,' he whispers, mouth on her throat.

Then her lips are against his, and there is no more talking for a long time.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Vow she won't be harmed,' Oak says, breathing hard. 'Also me. I would like not to be harmed as well.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“What if I am too much? If I need too much?' she asks, her voice very low.

He takes a deep breath, his smile gone. 'I'm not good. I'm not kind. Maybe I am not even safe. But whatever you want from me, I will give you.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I'm never killing her,' Oak says softly, so softly I almost don't hear.

'Then you better hope she doesn't kill you,' the general replies.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“My greatest weakness has always been my desire for love. It is a yawning chasm within me, and the more than I reach for it, the more easily I am tricked. I am a walking bruise, an open sore. If Oak is masked, I am a face with all the skin ripped off. Over and over, I have told myself that I need to guard against my own yearnings, but that hasn't worked.

I must try something new.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“I thought love was a fascination, or a desire to be around someone, or wanting to make them happy. I believed it just happened, like a slap to the face, and left the way the sting from such a blow fades. That's why it was easy for me to believe it could be false or manipulated or influenced by magic.

'Until I met you, I didn't understand to feel loved, one has to feel known. And that, outside of my family, I had never really loved because I hadn't bothered to know the other person. But I know you. And you have to come back to me, Wren, because no one gets us but us. You know why you're not a monster, but I might be. I know why throwing me in your dungeon meant there was still something between us. We are messes and we are messed up and I don't want to go through this world without the one person I can't hide from and who can't hide from me.

'Come back,' he says again, tears burning the back of his throat. 'You want and you want and you want, remember? Well, wake up and take what you want.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Don't listen to him.' He shakes his head with an exasperated look at his father. 'He's full of bad old-guy advice.'

'Just because I'm bad,' Madoc says with a grunt, 'doesn't mean the advice is.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Oak's eyes widen satisfyingly at the sound of my voice. 'How are you speaking?'

'I used a shard of Mab's bones,' I tell him, and if I shiver a little at the memory, he cannot guess the reason.

'So you're saying that while my father and I were asleep, you found the reliquary- all by yourself- and then single-handedly subdued Lady Nore?' He laughs. 'You might have woken me. I could have done something, surely. Applauded at the right moments? Held your bag?'

I am flattered into a small smile.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“What if I give you Oak’s head instead of Cardan’s?â€� Jude asks suddenly.
...
He knows she’s not serious about her offer. But that doesn’t mean she’s not serious about wanting to kill him.

How foolish Oak has been, making himself seem like Cardan’s enemy.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“After all, how can anyone love him when no one really knows him?”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“You should probably stop staring at her like you never saw a naked girl with wings before.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“You fall in love with the ease of someone slipping into a bath,' she tells him. 'And I imagine you extricate yourself with somewhat more drama, but no less ease.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I want you,' the price hears Tiernan say. Oak feels some chagrin at overhearing that, but he is also surprised at the starkness of the admission. It sounds almost like an accusation.

'And what are you going to do about it?' Hyacinthe asks.

Tiernan snorts. 'Pine, I suppose.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I want you,' the prince hears Tiernan say. Oak feels some chagrin at overhearing that, but he is also surprised at the starkness of the admission. It sounds almost like an accusation.

'And what are you going to do about it?' Hyacinthe asks.

Tiernan snorts. 'Pine, I suppose.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“You could have kept me here, in Elfhame, but you let your sister send me away.' Wren turns her gaze to the flower, speaking to it instead of him. 'You gave me the first safe place- the only safe place I had after I was stolen from my unfamily- and then you took it from me.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“It seems quite the trick to tell the friendly snakes from the other ones.'

'Ah,' Oak says. 'They're all friendly snakes until they bite you.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I'm not sure I trust anyone anymore. Not even myself.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“You're not my enemy,' he says. 'You were never my enemy.'

'Yet you're standing there with a bare blade,' Wren reminds him.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“You can't just keep throwing yourself at things as though you don't matter.'

'She matters more,' he says.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Come back to me.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I know what you think' Oak says. 'That you're not whom I should want.'

She ducks her head, a faint flush on her cheeks.

'It's true you inspire no safe daydream of love,' he tells her.

'A nightmare, then?' she asks with a small, self-depreciating laugh.

'The kind of love that comes when two people see each other clearly,' he says, walking to her. 'Even if they're scared to believe that's possible. I adore you. I want to play games with you. I want to tell you all the truths I have to give. And if you really think you're a monster, then let's be monsters together.'

Wren stares at him. 'And if I send you away even after this speech? If I don't want you?'

He hesitates. 'Then I'll go,' he says. 'And adore you from afar. And compose ballads about you or something.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I am not good. I am not kind. Maybe I am not even safe. But whatever you want from me, I will give you.”
― Holly Black

“Untill I met you, I didn't understand to feel loved, one has to feel known.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I want,â€� she says. “That’s my problem. I want and I want and I want.â€�
“What do you want?� he asks, voice soft.
“Everything. Charm me. Rip me open. Ruin me. Go too far.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Sometimes he screams into the darkness, just to remind himself that he can.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne