The Queen of Traitors

I'm the ugly truth, and he's a pretty lie, and we're always, always circling each other.

It took losing all that I held dear for me to learn a valuable lesson: only when everything is gone are you truly free.

War takes many things from people, but unfortunately, pain is not one of them.

The heartless king has found his heart after all. It rests beneath my rib cage.

I can't tell which is the worse fate--to question everything, to be paralyzed by indecision, or to question nothing and move through the world blind to any other way of existing save for your own.

That soul of hers, tempered by the hottest of forges, has been and always will be mine.

This is where happiness sneaks up on you, and you forgive evil people for unforgivable things because they give you a taste of a future you always thought was beyond your reach.

So this is how the rich bleed--elegantly.

We’ve been working on this for a week,” he continues, “and we’ve made no progress. Who do I have to kill to make things happen?” If only the psycho were joking.

My vicious Sleeping Beauty. This is our violent fairytale.

I don't tear my eyes from his when I say, "I'm thinking that you'd give the devil a run for his money. In fact, he's probably worried that you'll set your sights on his territory next." The corner of Monte's mouth lifts. "A good idea, Serenity. Perhaps I could consult you on hell's layout. I hear you're familiar with it.

When it comes to grief, words have no balm strong enough to soothe the soul.

I don’t want her to see the man I’ve become. I don’t want to fall for her all over again. It took decades for the pain of her absence to dull. Here my wife’s safe. And so is my heart.

His gaze scours my face, and I realize his cool exterior is hiding a well of emotions. A vein in his temple pulses. “What’ve they done to you?” This abomination of a human being cares about me. It doesn’t add up with what I’ve learned of him. And now, one wrong word and this house of cards will tumble. That’s the kind of power I sense I wield, being the king’s wife. He’ll kill them all, and unlike me, he’ll enjoy it thoroughly.

I lost my religion about the same time I lost my city. When it comes to war, people tend to go one of two ways: either they find God, or they do away with him. I fell into the latter category. I never blamed him, not like some of the others that gave up religion. They seemed more like jaded lovers than atheists. God just never was a man in my mind. He was food, shelter, safety, and—ultimately—peace. And when all that fled, I realized that my world no longer had a place for him.

I love this broken, broken creature, and damn him to the pits of hell for making me feel it when I should hate him all over again. If I could reason or suppress it away, I would. If I could crush it by sheer force of will, I would.