A Curse Carved In Bone Quotes

I wish it were otherwise, but yes. My reasons for lying to you were honorable. But my reasons for making you mine while telling you lies had not a measure of honor to them. I wanted you from the first moment I set eyes on you, Born-in-Fire, so I took you. Now I pay the price for my greed because I have lost the woman I love more than life itself.

You hurt me but earned my forgiveness, and to deny it only makes the pain worse. Forgiving you frees me to feel things other than pain. I’m forgiving you for myself.

I love you,” he said, and I turned my head, feeling my temple brush against the stubble of his chin as I whispered, “You have my heart.

My tongue frozen with the certainty that everything I said drove Freya farther away from me, because our words were no longer moves in a game but blows on the battlefield, cutting and cruel.

He was a wooden puppet. Some kind of marionette, Marra thought, the kind that traveling performers used to entertain very young children. He had the carved hands and the clacking jaw, the articulated arms and legs. But the only string on him was a black cord that looped Miss Margaret's throat, and the puppet held it in one hand. He moved as they watched. It was a slow, considered movement, like a tortoise turning its head in the sun, and it set Marra's nerves crawling.

The current had not given me a curse. And I had become strong under its teaching. But there was no denying another thing Dr. Fadlan had said--that on some level, I felt like I, and everyone else, deserved pain. One thing I knew, deep in my bones, was that Akos Kereseth did not deserve it. Holding on to that thought, I reached for him, and touched my hand to his chest, feeling fabric. I opened my eyes. The shadows were still traveling over my body, since I wasn’t touching his skin, but my entire left arm, from shoulder to the fingertips that touched him, was bare. Even if he had been able to feel my currentgift, I still would not have been hurting him. Akos’s eyes, usually so wary, were wide with wonder. “When I kill people with a touch, it’s because I decide to give them all the pain and keep none of it for myself. It’s because I get so tired of bearing it that all I want to do is set it down for a while,” I said. “But during the interrogation, it occurred to me that maybe I was strong enough to bear it all myself. That maybe no one else but me could. And I never would have thought of that without you.” I blinked tears from my eyes. “You saw me as someone better than I was,” I said. “You told me that I could choose to be different than I had been, that my condition was not permanent. And I began to believe you. Taking in all the pain nearly killed me, but when I woke up again, the gift was different. It doesn’t hurt as much. Sometimes I can control it.” I took my hand away. “I don’t know what you want to call it, what we are to each other now,” I said. “But I wanted you to know that your friendship has...quite literally altered me.

It was not sharp or piercing but an agony that melted your bones, scorched your flesh, and carved a hole so deep into you that you'd pray for a quick death to be with them. So no, it was not love. It was more necessary, like air in my lungs, blood in my veins. It wasn't just a nebulous emotion that came and went on a whim. This bond was a near physical thing, tangible and constant

THE CURSEPRICE Forged in heartbreak, set in bone, cast in blood, carved in stone. A thousand years will my curse reign, unless I have these six things: The tears of a fairy from a wood so deep. The fig of a vorgrath from his mate’s keep. The scale of a selkie burnished gold. The bone of a wood witch a century old. The midnight sliver of a Shade Queen’s horn. The sacrifice of two lovers torn. Haven Ashwood had a horrible habit of flirting

he has drawn a line in the sand and I will not cross it. I will not kill the woman he loves so dearly for it would mean losing him, and that is not a loss I can bear. I am selfish, and it seems the Norns know that well.

Won’t be the first time I’ve tasted your spit, Born-in-Fire, and I think not the last.

Have you gotten your eyeful, Born-in-Fire, or do you wish me to sit still a moment longer?

There was no future where I could envision fully trusting Bjorn again, but also no future where I trusted myself around him.

Having your back doesn’t mean agreeing to every wild scheme you come up with.

My anger is a part of me!” I shouted. “You can’t love only half of me, Bjorn, because that means you don’t love me at all!

I love the whole of you!” he shouted back. “Even when you are as mean as a feral cat and say things that break my heart, I still love you! But no matter what my mother has convinced you of, you don’t want this right now. So neither do I.

You have the opportunity to travel somewhere warm and wed a man who loves you so much, he’d risk everything for you. To have beautiful babies and never again know the touch of violence. This life could be yours, and though you sit in silence, it is as though you scream in my face, ‘I refuse to forgive him for not being perfect.’ 

You were in the right, Bjorn. Freya is being selfish and childish if she doesn’t see that, so you ought to work to put her mind on the right path.

It is not lost on me how you prioritized your own desires over her well-being while you were in Skaland. Freya is young and has been conditioned all her life to give the men around her what they want, and you took advantage of that.

There is nothing I wouldn’t do to win you back.

I don’t want your gifts, Bjorn. I don’t want anything from you. If it were possible to erase you from my memories, I would do so.

This is how it is done, Freya,” Harald said. “They’d have done the same to us, had they been the victors.

Vengeance is a circle without end.

No one on this ship is good.

We all have a monster within us.

Because I was Freya Born-in-Fire. Daughter of Hlin. Daughter of Hel. And I would weave my own fate.

You are my home, Freya,” he answered. “Everywhere else is just a place to lay my head.

You say that, but desperate moments drive desperate actions.

You assume it will change for the better. What if it changes to something worse?

The hopes of a man with weasel shit for brains, because no truth would temper the seething rage that burned in my Freya’s heart. Not yours anymore, logic whispered even as my greedy heart screamed that she’d be mine until the end of days.

Hel is the goddess of death and mistress of Helheim, but she is no villain set upon destruction. She is…covetous, for lack of a better word. She wants. Which makes me wonder what Freya wants. Makes me wonder what has been denied to her that makes rage burn so hot in her heart that her eyes turn to flame. Blame not Hel, for the anger you see is Freya’s and Freya’s alone.

I forgive you, Bjorn. I forgive you because I understand that you acted out of love for Freya, not out of malice toward me or Nordeland. The gods know, I have made questionable choices for the sake of your mother, so I cannot judge you harshly. Women wield their beauty like a weapon, and none are more beautiful than Saga.

That was no question. I had Freya’s back to the gates of Valhalla and beyond.

lying to you were honorable. But my reasons for making you mine while telling you lies had not a measure of honor to them. I wanted you from the first moment I set eyes on you, Born-in-Fire, so I took you. Now I pay the price for my greed because I have lost the woman I love more than life itself.

Yet my fear faded to longing as I stared at the dark water. It whispered words promising relief from the grief that clawed at my heart. From the rage that plagued my soul. From the loneliness that hollowed my insides, for I had lost everything that mattered to me, including my purpose.

You all sacrificed so much to steal me, so I think I can say what I please, and you all have no choice but to listen! No choice but to suffer my words. You wanted me? Now you fucking have all of me, so enjoy! Delight in the fruits of your labor!

Hate me all you want.” He let go of my wrists. “But your last breath will not be today, Born-in-Fire.

Pity is not the same thing as forgiveness,

You drive me to madness, woman.

She must fight it. The question you must ask is if you are willing to fight it alongside her.” That was no question. I had Freya’s back to the gates of Valhalla and beyond.

Your plans always have great beginnings, Born-in-Fire, but having barely survived the middles and endings of said plans, it is difficult not to ask questions.” “The question you should ask yourself is why you aren’t being more helpful by offering suggestions rather than criticisms. I have a plan. You have no plan. That makes my plan better than yours.

The sea reached for me, and my fingers slackened, my broken heart yearning for the respite from the pain. To be drawn down down down into the darkness.

Harald

Then it’s only a matter of time.” Harald kicked a rock, cursing. “Skade, do you recognize any of their faces?” “What faces?” The huntress’s tone was sour. “This one is split in two and this one is so much meat. Those two,” she gestured in the distance where the sound of rending flesh was audible, “are in the stomach of your pets.

I love the whole of you!” he shouted back. “Even when you are as mean as a feral cat and say things that break my heart, I still love you!

partial truths could amount to a significant lie.

Mind your tongue, boy. I’ll not tolerate such language from one whose arse I wiped as a babe.

rage burned in my chest that they had to experience this. Had to suffer because those in power always wanted more more more with no care for what it cost others.