If there weren't an all-powerful dictator and his monstrous horde to get to, I'd be opening a bottle of champagne.

I would make you my queen because I want you. I want you all the time.

You will wed a Taban sister who craves a crown," she said. "Or a wealthy Kerch girl, or maybe a Fjerdan royal. You will have heirs and a future. I'm not the queen Ravka needs.

It's good to doubt Saints, Vladim. And men.

I have a lot of scars,' he said finally. 'This is one I chose.

Why did you go to her?"Because with her he was human again. How had she bested him? Sheer stubbornness. Something more. He's known a name for it once, a hundred lifetimes ago.

So how had she bested him? Sheer stubbornness. That pragmatic impulse that had allowed her to survive the orphanage, to endure so many years without using her power.Something more.He'd known the name for it once, a hundred lifetimes ago.

Like calls to like, Alina.

Então se virou para mim, e dei um passo assustado para trás, porque vi, tão claro quanto se eu estivesse parada em sua borda: o abismo. Incessante, negro e fastidioso, o vazio interminável de uma vida vivida por tempo demais.