Red Queen Quotes

The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.

Anyone can betray anyone.

Rise, red as the dawn.

Words can lie. See beyond them.

I told you to hide your heart once. You should have listened.

Flame and shadow. One cannot exist without the other.

If you know someone's fear, you know them.

No one is born evil, just like no one is born alone. They become that way, through choice and circumstance.

If I am a sword, I am a sword made of glass, and I feel myself beginning to shatter.

The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind.

What I need and what I want are two very different things.

In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don't know if I'll ever smile again.

To look powerful is to be powerful.

You should know the difference between secrets and lies.

There's nothing wrong with being different.

I see a world on the edge of a blade. Without balance, it will fall.

It's our nature. We destroy. It's the constant of our kind. No matter the color of blood, man will always fall.

Anyone, anything, can betray anyone. Even your own heart.

I will never make the mistake of loving you ever again." "So you choose him?" That's all this ever was. Jealousy. Rivalry. All so shadow could defeat the flame.

A lie will raise me up, and one day another lie will bring me down.

To stand in front of a person who is your whole world and be told you are not enough. You are not the choice. You are a shadow to the person who is your sun.

Those who know what it's like in the dark will do anything to stay in the light.

So you choose him?' 'Cal betrayed me, and I betrayed him. And you betrayed us both, in a thousand different ways.' The words are heavy as stone but right. So right. 'I choose no one.

I'm a Red girl in a sea of Silvers and I can't afford to feel sorry for anyone, least of all the son of a snake.

I'll make the other scream for you, Mare, every last one. Not just your parents. Not just your siblings. But every single one like you. I'm going to find them, and they will die with you in their thoughts, knowing this is the fate you have brought them. I am the king and you could've been my Red Queen. Now you are nothing.

I am the king and you could've been my Red Queen.

No heart can ever be truly understood. Not even your own.

There are worse lives to live. Don't feel sorry for me.

Red in the head, Silver in the heart

Many things led to this day, for all of us. A forgotten son, a vengeful mother, a brother with a long shadow, a strange mutation. Together, they've written a tragedy.

No one is born a monster. But I wish some people were. It would make it easier to hate them, to kill them, to forget their dead faces.

I can’t believe I didn’t see him for what he was from the beginning: a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And now I’m the sheep pretending to be a wolf.

You aren’t alone.” The hope in his eyes cuts deeply. “You have your crown.

You better hide that heart of yours, Lady Titanos. It won't lead you anywhere you want to go.

Kneel or bleed.

This was the shadow controlling the flame.

I'm an accident. I'm a lie. And my life depends on maintaining the illusion.

We seem weak because we want to.

Strange, my enemies know me best, and my family doesn’t know me at all.

I've been broken too many times to break again.

Now I'm in a king's cage. But so is he. My chains are Silent Stone. His is the crown.

I fear being alone more than anything else. So why do I do this? Why do I push away the people I love? What is so very wrong with me? I don’t know. And I don’t know how to make it stop.

Not a god’s chosen, but a god’s cursed. That’s what we all are.

Are you going to babysit me every day or just until I learn my way around?" "What do you think?" "Here's to a long and happy friendship, Officer Samos." "Likewise, my lady." "Don't call me that." "Whatever you say, my lady.

Every single thing I did, you stood behind me,” I say. “If I’m turning into a monster, then so are you.” “Love blinds.

Don’t lie to a liar.

Mare?" "Are you afraid, Maven?" "I am. I'm afraid of failing. I'm afraid of letting this opportunity pass us by. And I'm afraid of what happens if nothing in this world ever changes. That scares me more than dying.

The thing with heat is, no matter how cold you are, no matter how much you need warmth, it always, eventually, becomes too much.

I’m a liar and a cheat and a coward, but I will never, ever, let a friend down. Unless of course not letting them down requires honesty, fair play, or bravery.

Gavriel’s son was bellowing Whitethorn’s name. A gods-damned victory cry. Over and over, the men taking up the call. Then Fenrys’s voice lifted. And Gavriel’s. And that red-haired queen. The Havilliard king. On into battle, on into bloodshed, they called the prince’s name.

Roses are red, violets are blue, I have five fingers, the middle one is for you.

Sometimes his silence is better than anyone else’s words.

I have named you queen. There are taller than you, taller. There are purer than you, purer. There are lovelier than you, lovelier. But you are the queen. When you go through the streets No one recognizes you. No one sees your crystal crown, no one looks At the carpet of red gold That you tread as you pass, The nonexistent carpet. And when you appear All the rivers sound In my body, bells Shake the sky, And a hymn fills the world. Only you and I, Only you and I, my love, Listen to it.

Humanity can be divided into madmen and cowards. My personal tragedy is in being born into a world where sanity is held to be a character flaw.

I am a weapon made of flesh, a sword covered in skin. I was born to kill a king, to end a reign of terror before it can truly begin.

Revolution needs a spark,” I murmur, repeating what Julian would say in our lessons. “And even sparks burn.

Sometimes I forget you have the legs of a child." "Better than the brain of one.

They trained me for this. It's their own fault. They helped make their own doom.

Love can be exploited, I guess, used to manipulate. It's leverage. But I would never call loving someone else a weakness. I think living without love at all, any kind of love, is weakness. And the worst kind of darkness.

His lips are on mine, hard and warm and pressing. The touch is electrifying, but not like I'm used to. This isn't a spark of destruction, but a spark of life. As much as I want to pull away, I just can't do it. Cal is a cliff and I throw myself over the edge, not bothering to think of what it could do to us both. One day he'll realize I'm his enemy, and all this will be a far-gone memory. But not yet.

The person she loved is dead, stolen by someone else. Mine chose to walk away. Chose everything I hate over everything I am. I wonder which hurts more. Before

Don’t lie to a liar, and Maven is the grandest liar of all.

It isn't hard to let people die when their deaths give life to something else.

But I'm not a princess. I'm not the girl who gets saved.

Sophos turned red, and I wondered about the circulation of his blood; maybe his body kept an extra supply of it in his head, ready for blushing.

There are pieces of me, small pieces, still in love with a fiction.

I will never submit again. I will never stop fighting.

As you enter, you pray to leave. As you leave, you pray to never return.

You are only a shadow, and who looks at shadows when they have flame?

Attend to your own fate, Mare Barrow.” “And that is?” “To rise. And rise alone.

I am different from what my world demands I be. And I am not worse for it.

I woke up this morning as one person, and now I'm supposed to be someone else entirely.

But I can’t shake the feeling that, while they stand with me, there’s no one beside me. Even with an army at my back, I am still alone.

We can’t choose who we love. I wish, more than anything, that we could.

Once, I was afraid of these walls, frightened by such beauty. But I see the cracks now.

Fire and lightning raised Maven up, and fire and lightning will bring him down.

There is no greater pain or punishment than memory.

I’m starting to think you like prisons,” he says, idling knocking his knuckles against the wall. “And that you have the worst taste in men.

It's cruel to give hope where none should be. It only turns into disappointment, resentment, rage -- all the things that make this life more difficult than it already is.

Red blood is just so hard to clean up" "You would know" I snap remembering Shade. "Because no matter how hard you try to hid it I see it all over your hands

But I killed you,” Alyss said. “Did you?” Red turned to The Cat. “Why wasn’t I informed?

Not all crowns are worn where people can see.

No matter how much I might want to feel him, I cannot. I must keep my eyes ahead, and away from the fire of a fallen prince. I must freeze my heart to the one person who insists on setting it ablaze.

As beautiful as this world is, it's just as dangerous. People who are not useful, people who make mistakes, they can be removed. You can be removed.

To rise. And rise alone.

One dark night I spilled my secrets to him, on a road thick with summer heat. I was the girl who tried to steal his money then. Now, winter looms, and I’m the girl who stole his life.

My heart breaks for him; my heart hardens against him.

You’ll find I’m remarkably good at giving orders, and particularly awful at following them.

She dared a look at Rowan, whose face remained carefully blank, but saw the words there anyway. You wicked, clever fox. And here you were, thinking the red hair was just for vanity. I shall never doubt again.

Cal will never turn his back on his crown, on your father." "I know my brother. If it comes down to it, to saving your life or saving his crown, we both know what he will choose." "He would never choose me.

I thought I knew what heartbreak was. I thought that was what Maven did to me. When he stood and left me kneeling. When he told me everything I ever thought him to be was a lie. But then, I believed I loved him. I know now, I didn't know what love was. Or what even the echo of heartbreak felt like. To stand in front of a person who is your whole world and be told you are not enough. You are not the choice. You are a shadow to the person who is your sun.

There are pieces of me, small pieces, still in love with a fiction. A ghost living inside a living boy I cannot begin to fathom. The ghost who sat by my bed while I dreamed in pain. The ghost who kept Samson from my mind as long as he could, I know, delaying an inevitable torture. The ghost who loves me, in what poisoned way he can. And I feel that poison working in me.

We all practice self-deception to a degree; no man can handle complete honesty without being cut at each turn. There's not enough room in a man's head for sanity alongside each grief, each worry, each terror that he owns. I’m well used to burying such things in a dark cellar and moving on.

Through it all, I stare at the boy on the throne. He maintains his mask. Jaw clenched, lips pressed into a thin, unforgiving line. Still fingers, straight back. But his gaze wavers. Something in his eyes has gone far away. And at his collar, the slightest gray flush rises, painting his neck and the tips of his ears. He's terrified. For a second, it makes me happy. Then I remember―monsters are most dangerous when they're afraid.

In school, we learned about the world before ours, about the angels and gods that lived in the sky, ruling the earth with kind and loving hands. Some say those are just stories, but I don't believe that. The gods rule us still, they have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind.

I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.

I can't believe you've been here all day and didn't come visit. ", Tatiana said. "Aw, I figured you had more important things to do than see me, " Adrian told her. "Besides, I quit smoking, so now we won't be able to go sneak cigarettes out behind the throne room together. " "Adrian!" chastised Nathan, turning bright red. It occurred to me then that I could have based a drinking game around how many times he exclaimed his son's name disapprovingly.

I asked him for it. For the blood, for the rust, for the sin. I didn’t want the pearls other girls talked about, or the fine marble of palaces, or even the roses in the mouth of servants. I wanted pomegranates— I wanted darkness, I wanted him. So I grabbed my king and ran away to a land of death, where I reigned and people whispered that I’d been dragged. I’ll tell you I’ve changed. I’ll tell you, the red on my lips isn’t wine. I hope you’ve heard of horns, but that isn’t half of it. Out of an entire kingdom he kneels only to me, calls me Queen, calls me Mercy. Mama, Mama, I hope you get this. Know the bed is warm and our hearts are cold, know never have I been better than when I am here. Do not send flowers, we’ll throw them in the river. ‘Flowers are for the dead’, ‘least that’s what the mortals say. I’ll come back when he bores me, but Mama, not today.

Mare,” he whispers. “Choose me.” Choose a crown. Choose another king’s cage. Choose a betrayal to everything you’ve bled for. I find my thread of steel too. Thin but unbreakable. “I am in love with you, and I want you more than anything else in the world.” His words sound hollow coming from me. “Anything else in this world.” Slowly, my eyelids flutter open. He finds the spine to match my gaze. “Think what we could do together,” he murmurs, trying to pull me closer. My feet hold firm. “You know what you are to me. Without you, I have no one. I am alone. I have nothing left. Don’t leave me alone.” My breathing turns ragged. I kiss him for what could be, what might be, what will be—the last time. His lips feel strangely cold as we both turn to ice. “You aren’t alone.” The hope in his eyes cuts deeply. “You have your crown.

Nix and Lothaire: When the collar dropped to the ground, Lothaire rolled his head on his neck. But instead of disappearing immediately, he traced to stand mere feet from Nïx. A towering vampire with skin like marble and chillingly flawless features was staring down a petite Valkyrie with crazed eyes and a cryptic smile. The tension between the two was palpable. Even on the verge of flipping the fuck out, Regin couldn’t look away. “The Accession grinds on, does it not?” Lothaire said. “Just like old times.” Nïx winked. “Alas, Dorada will come for you once she rises again.” “I’ll be ready.” He narrowed his red eyes. “You’ve likely foreseen this moment. Tell me, are we to fight now? As in the past?” “You defy foresight, Lothaire.” “That’s only fair, Phenïx, since you’ve long defied insight.” Phenïx? Nïx canted her head. “What does your Endgame tell you?” “That white queen will never take black king.” He gave her a formal bow. “Until our next match.” “There won’t be a next match, vampire.” His brow creased into a frown, the Enemy of Old disappeared.