allie chen

“Watch the blade, not the soldier. Steel never deceives.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince / The Wicked King / The Queen of Nothing

“You didn't hear the story I told," he goes on. "A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like."

She laughs. "You really are terrible, you know that? I don't even understand why the things you say make me smile."

He lets himself lean against her, lets himself hear the warmth in her voice. "There is one thing I did like about playing the hero. The only good bit. And that was not having to be terrified for you."

"The next time you want to make a point," Jude says, "I beg you not to make it so dramatically."

His shoulder hurts, and she may be right about the iron poisoning. He certainly feels as though his head is swimming. But he smiles up at the trees, the looping electrical lines, the streaks of clouds.

"So long as you're begging," he says.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“I hate you," I whisper before he can speak.

He tilts my face to his.

"Say it again," he says as the imps comb my hair and place the ugly, stinking crown on my head. His voice is low. The words are for me alone.

I pull out of his grip, but not before I see his expression. He looks as he did when he was forced to answer my questions, when he admitted his desire for me. He looks as though he's confessing.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“If you hurt me, I wouldn't cry,
I would hurt you back”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince / The Wicked King / The Queen of Nothing