Half Sick of Shadows

You are different and it terrifies them, so they try to push you down and keep you small and manageable. They know that if they keep you huddling in your corner, you will never stand to your full height. They know that if you ever do, you'll be great enough to ruin them.

Some things can't be fixed, they can't be glued back together as they were. Sometimes, all you can do is find the beauty in the broken. All you can do is figure out how to put the pieces together as best you can, to make something new out of them.

Not all men, fine, but enough of them. Enough of them to drown out the few good ones. More than enough to ruin the whole damn world" - Guinevere

Everything I am, I've made myself. Maybe you have all shaped me, molded me like a vase, but when all is said and done, when everyone has chipped away their pieces, I will not break.

I wonder what will be left of you,” she muses, “when all the people you love have chipped away their pieces.

Heartbreak isn't as lethal as the name implies, you know. Maybe it feels that way at the time, but I swear it isn't. You've seen Gwen and me both rebound from it eventually. I don't regret anything leading up to it, and I doubt Gwen does either. It's life, Elaine. Getting hurt, picking yourself up, trying again. You're so focused on the ending sometimes that I don't think you know how to appreciate the during.

You were not raised to be safe. You were raised to be heroes.

You made yourself the villain so that Arthur could remain a hero.

Arguing with my mother was like kicking a boulder— she remained unchanged and I was the one left limping. It was never worth it.

I didn’t want to live in fear that I would make a misstep and bring my entire life to ruin. I didn’t want to live where people whispered about me behind my back and made jokes at my expense. I wanted a home, not a lonely tower where I felt more ghost than human.

How awful it is to need someone, but more awful still to admit it out loud. It feels like I’ve cut myself open and set myself out for crows to peck at. I am fragile and weak and desperate. I am not so different than the girl I was before… the one who needed so much love and never got any of it.

The wise ones know that there is much to fear in the world; it’s the foolish who claim that nothing frightens them because they don’t have the foresight to know what to be afraid of until it’s too late.

Morgana doesn't gasp. She doesn't make any sound at all. Her eyes locked on mine the entire time, a single tear tracing its way down her cheek.

I wanted it more than I could put into words: a place where I belonged.

Beware, beware three maidens fair With bloody hands and divine air. Help not the girl whom others blame She’ll burn the world to ash and flame. Trust not the girl with the golden crown She’ll take what’s yours and watch you drown. And my Lily Maid will scream and cry. She’ll break them both and then she’ll die.

I will have thought of them myself too many times to fault her for saying it once.

One day,” he says softly to me, “I hope I can begin to expect your return rather than merely hope for it.

Don’t mind me,” I said, taking a sip of my tea. “I don’t understand half of what you two say anyway, and I wouldn’t repeat it if I did.

...there are few good choices. There were no good choices here, Gwen. We made the only choice we could live with. Maybe it was a bad one, but all we can do now is make the best of it.

But some things can't be fixed, they can't be glued back together as they were. Sometimes, all you can do is find the beauty in the broken. All you can do is figure our how to put the pieces together as best you can, to make something new out of them.

...[F]or centuries, there was peace," I say. "For the fey, there was peace," he corrects. casting me an amused glance. "Of course they found it peaceful. They were the ones in power. They held the reins. How could they not be at peace? The humans, however, were certainly never peaceful. They lived lives of fear and cowering.

...[F]or centuries, there was peace,' I say. 'For the fey, there was peace,' he corrects. casting me an amused glance. 'Of course they found it peaceful. They were the ones in power. The held the reins. How could they not be at peace? The humans, however, were certainly never peaceful. They lived lives of fear and cowering.

I loved my mother because she was all I had— because I believed she was the only person in the world who could love me back.

I imagine it must be nice, to be sure of someone like that. To not constantly have to think of all the facets of a person that exist, how they are constantly in flux, how impossible it is to truly know anyone—even and maybe especially the people we love.

Teenage girls are always vicious, but they grew up just like we did.” Morgana glowers. “Girls like that never grow up,” she says. “That ugly meanness is always lurking under the surface. They’ve only grown smarter about it—biding their time and waiting to attack.

In the years that I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her try to disappear. That’s always been me, trying to fade into the background or fall away into the pages of a book.

It took a long time for me to understand how deeply some people enjoy inflicting pain on others, whether physical or emotional.

Make way for Arthur Vendragon,” he shouts. “Rightful heir to the throne of Camelot.” “Pendragon,” I whisper. “Arthur Pendragon.” “Right,” Lancelot says. “Arthur Pendragon, rightful heir to the throne of Camelot, coming through, if you don’t mind. Make way for the one true king, please and thank you.

I think I fear too many things.