The collection / 102 fragments

The living archive

Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01Undated

There! I can’t fix the whole country, and it will only last a few days, but I present you with the sun, on behalf of my dreadfully boring magic.”He bows low, holding out his hand. I reach out tentatively, afraid of being burned, but the globe merely hovers above my hand where I slide it on top of Finn’s. It’s golden and deliciously warm and instantly makes me happier and more at ease than I’ve been in weeks.I laugh, delighted, and by the look on Finn’s face you’d think I was the one who had given him an absurd and wonderful gift.

Kiersten White / quote

02Undated

You once told me some lives are worth more than others. How many deaths before the scales tipout of our favor?”She had no answer.

Kiersten White / quote

03Undated

Pretending is another way of lying, and I am so good at both.

Kiersten White / quote

04Undated

I wonder what it would be like to be with a boy who blushes when he looks at my skin.

Kiersten White / quote

05Undated

What is wrong with you?” Radu sounded on the verge of tears. “Why do you have to destroy everything good we have here?”“Because,” Lada said, voice flat with the sudden wave of exhaustion pulling her heavily to the ground. “We have nothing. Can you not see that?”“We have Mehmed!”Lada looked up. The stars were static, still and cold in the night, all the fire gone from the sky. “It is not enough,” she said.

Kiersten White / quote

06Undated

Did you do this?”“There are other ways to beat someone than with fists.” Radu poked her in the side with a finger.She surprised him by laughing. He stood up straighter, a proud grin at having surprised and delighted Lada bursting across his face. She never laughed unless she was laughing at him. He had done something right!Then the lashings began.Radu’s smile wilted and died. He looked away. He was safe now. And Lada was proud of him, which had never happened before. He focused on that to ignore the sick feelings twisting his stomach as Aron and Andrei cried out in pain. He wanted his nurse—wanted her to hold and comfort him—and this, too, made him feel ashamed.Lada watched the whip with a calculating look. “Still,” she said. “Fists are faster.

Kiersten White / quote