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But if I abandon what I love just to live, what kind of life is that?
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Thereβs an old expression in my village that sometimes the tongue isnβt ready to speak what the eyes have seen. I believe that.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Life is for living, for making mistakes and wringing the most out of good moments because the bad will always be there.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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kill what you hate or protect what you love. Itβs harder than it sounds.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Poison can taste like candy when youβre starving.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Itβs so much easier to sink to the level of everybody else.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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But the men arenβt as forgiving of the binds put on women.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Every person dies. The difference is in how they live.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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But now that it was all for nothing, everything rushes back. The pleas for mercy, the cries and death throes echo in my head. the ghosts of past wrongs stand over me... My shoulders fall, the weight too much. the gurgling, the begging, the tears. I put my palms over my ears to make it stop. Doesn't help because the sound is in me.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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But maybe the good naturally rises above like curds and whey.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Without burning anger, all youβre left with is the embers of grief. In many ways, fury is better because at least itβs something to cling to. Sadness is a barren expanse.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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and one small bed. Itβll barely fit the two of us. I laugh.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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I think weβve all done things we arenβt proud of,β I say. βI think a person is more than the strikes against them. At least Iβd like to believe we are.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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My heart fills as I watch them. This world is brimming with unkindness. It takes a brave hand to carve out a small piece of happiness and to stand ready to defend it.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Maybe mercy is a privilege of the powerful.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Hate can overcome and defeat goodness. Hate has the advantage of being easier.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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I would be careful with picking my lock in the future. I didnβt have time to set up traps, but I will.β I look at Aeri and Royo. How did he know we broke in? I made sure not to touch anything, and Royo locked the door as we left.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))
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Ambassador Zeolin is a tall, thin man with dignified gray hair who I currently have hanging from his office window.
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Mai Corland (Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades, #2))