It’s like—it’s gleaning in the woods. . . You have to pick your way through the thickets and the trees, and it’s different every time.
If you will pardon my saying so, Tharkay said, you will never satisfy them on that point: the last thing you or Temeraire will ever give anyone is quiet obedience. Have you considered it might be bett...
I'm glad, I said, with an effort, refusing to let my mouth close up with jealousy. It wasn't that I wanted a husband and a baby; I didn't, or rather, I only wanted them the way I wanted to live to a h...
I was so tired that I was nothing but my body: the steady dull throb in my thighs, the tremor all along my arms, the thick grime of dust muffling my skin.
I should rather have you than a heap of gold, even if it were very comfortable to sleep on.
I should rather have you than a heap of gold, even if it were very comfortable to sleep on, Temeraire said. I do not mind the deck.
I should like to know if he has sunk a frigate, alone, with a Fleur-de-Nuit on his back; and as for distinction, my ancestors were scholars in China while his were starving in pits.
I looked at Lukas. He did not look very pleased, but he did not look very sad either. He was only giving me a considering eye. I was a pig at the market he had decided to buy. He was hoping I fattened...
I just sobbed myself out until I had too much of a headache to go on crying, and after that I was cold and stiff
I didn’t want her to need to do things like that. I didn’t want her to need a sword.
I didn't really understand what mothers were, because mine was in a tree, but I knew they were very good things and you were very angry and sad if you lost them.
I am beginning to feel the need of a glass of wine to fortify myself against this conversation.
His name tasted of fire and wings, of curling smoke, of subtlety and strength and the rasping whisper of scales. He eyed me and said stiffly, Don't land yourself into a boiling-pot, and as difficult a...
He turned a cold certain look over them like the sweep of a scythe. For however many of them will be left, he said.
He made her give him gold just to live, as if she belonged to him because he was strong enough to kill her. My father was strong enough to kill me but that did not mean I belonged to him.
He darted a look at the uncovered basket behind me, saw what I was eating, and glared at me. That's appalling, he said.They're wonderful! I said. They're all coming ripe.All the better to turn you int...
For his part, Temeraire had been following this exchange with cocked head and increasing confusion; now he said, I do not understand in the least, why ought it make any difference at all? Lily is fema...
Enough of that, you damned conspirators, you will have us hanged a great deal sooner than we will.
Dragon intelligence was a mystery to men who made a study of the subject; he had no idea how much the dragon would hear or understand, but thought it better to avoid the risk of giving offense.
But she hadn't been able to take root. She'd remembered the wrong things, and forgotten too much. She'd remembered how to kill and how to hate, and she'd forgotten how to grow.