The Stolen Heir Quotes

“It is hard to explain the savagery of hope.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“She's going to want to wear your skull for a hat," Oak warns.
There is an uncomfortable shifting among the ex-falcons. Perhaps they are recalling their own choice to denounce her, their own punishment.
"And Cardan is going to laugh and laugh when she does.”
― 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 that 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.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“My sister thinks that she’s the only one who can take poison, but I am poison,' he whispers, eyes half-closed, talking to himself. 'Poison in my blood. I poison everything I touch.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Sometimes life gives us the terrible gift of our own wishes come true.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“The Folk adore Cardan, and they’re terrified of my sister, two excellent things. I hope they rule Elfhame for a years and then pass it down to one of a dozen offspring. No need for me to be involved.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“he's the kind of beautiful that makes people want to smash things”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“That's what I've been for years. An unsister. An undaughter. An unperson. A girl with a hole for a life. How appropriate to have my tongue cut out, when silence has been my refuge and my cage.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Stop waiting. Sink those pretty little teeth into something.”
― holly black, The Stolen Heir

“With him, I am forever a night-blooming flower, attracted and repelled by the heat of the sun.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Fear is not love, but it can appear much the same.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Another girl might have frozen, but I am cold all the way through.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“It can be brave to hate. Sometimes it’s like hope.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Perhaps it is Oak who is the fool, who caught a wolf and thought that by putting it in a gown and speaking to it as though it were a girl, it would become one.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“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

“But I can't pretend that I don't like the sound of him screaming my name.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“He's the kind of beautiful that makes people want to smash things.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“It seemed, in the beginning, that fighting back would only bring me further pain. That’s the lesson they wanted me taught, but soon I realized I would be hurt anyway. Better to hurt someone else when I had a chance. Better to make them hesitate, to know it would cost them something.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“And for a moment, I am viciously glad. It doesn't feel good exactly, to be in danger, but it does feel good to be the cause of events rather than being swept along into them.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“This is the problem with living by instinct. I don’t think.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“When his eyes meet mine, desire, as keen as any blade, bends the air between us. The moment slows. I want to bite his lip. To feel the heat of his skin. To slide my hands beneath his armor and trace the map of his scars.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“All of Faerie is beautiful like this, with carnage hidden just beneath.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Everything died in the Ice Citadel, but hope died first.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“A small smile turns up a corner of my mouth. I feel the sharpness of my teeth and roll my tongue over them. For the first time, I like the feeling.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame. Son of the traitorous Grand General and brother to the mortal High Queen. Oak, to whom I was once promised in marriage. Who had once been my friend, although he doesn’t seem to remember it.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“And that is why you ought not dramatically vow to obey someone. They seldom ask for what you hope they will.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“You will make an interesting High King,' I tell him.

He looks alarmed. 'I most definitely will not. The Folk adore Cardan and they're terrified of my sister, two excellent things. I hope they rule Elfhame for a thousand years and then pass it down to one of a dozen offspring. No need for me to be involved.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“How appropriate to have my tongue cut out, when silence has been my refuge and my cage.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Since no one loves me, I'll go.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“I feel a little pummelled by Oak's beauty.

If I look at him too long, I want to take a bite out of him.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir