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Holly Black

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Famous Holly Black Quotes

“He talked about you,' Tiernan says. I feel like an animal after all, one that's been baited in its den. I both dread and desire him to keep talking. 'What did he say?' 'That you didn't like him.' He gives me an evaluating look. 'I thought maybe you'd had a falling-out when you were younger. But I think you do like him. You just don't want him to know it.' The truth of that hurts. I grind my sharp teeth together. 'The prince is a flatterer. And a charmer. And a wormer around things,' Tiernan informs me, entirely unnecessarily. 'That makes it harder for him to be believed when he has something sincere to say. But no one would ever accuse me of being a flatterer...”

Holly BlackThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarFlattererHeart To HeartTiernanEvaluating
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“I should never have asked you to come back here.' 'Just don't leave me behind,' I say, feeling immensely vulnerable. 'That's what I want, for the game I won all those years ago.' 'I promise you,' he says. 'If it is within my power, we leave together.' I nod. 'We will find the reliquary and ruin her,' I tell him. 'And then I will never come back.”

PromiseGuiltyVulnerableHolly BlackThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarLeave Together
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“Do you think he will protect you now? You're useless. The heir to Elfhame has no reason to spend any further time with an untutored savage of a girl. But think, you wouldn't remember him. You wouldn't even have to remember yourself.' 'I'm not half as practical as you suppose,' Oak says. 'I like many useless things. I've been called useless myself from time to time.”

UselessHolly BlackThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarInsultsPut DownsLady Nore
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“Only to see Oak, the heir to Elfhame, standing in a clearing. All my memories of him were of a merry young boy. But he'd become tall and rawboned, in the manner of children who have grown suddenly and too fast. When he moved, it was with coltish uncertainty, as though not used to his body. He would be thirteen. And he had no reason to be in my woods.”

UncertaintyTallHolly BlackThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarRawbonedColtish
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“You think because you've got that good royal blood in you, you're better than us,' says the ogre, pressing one long fingernail against the prince's shoulder. 'Maybe you are. Only way to be sure is to have a taste.' There's a drunken wobble to Oak's movements as he pushes off the ogre's hand and obvious contempt in his voice. 'The difference in flavour would be too subtle for your palate.”

FunnyHolly BlackFaerieThe Stolen HeirOakOak GreenbriarPrinceOgreRoyal BloodBaiting
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“How will they sell rubies?' I ask him. 'Why not leave them something more practical?' 'As a prince of Faerie, I flatly refuse to leave cash. It's inelegant.' Tiernan shakes his head at both of us, then pokes at the foodstuffs selecting a handful of nuts. 'Gift cards are worse,' Oak says when I do not respond. 'I would bring shame to the entire Greenbriar line if I left a gift card.' At that, I can't help smiling a little, despite my heavy heart. 'You're ridiculous.”

FunnyHolly BlackCashThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarTiernanGift Cards
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“We learned something of her capabilities.' 'And you want me to tell you that was worth you being poisoned?' the knight demands. 'I'm always being poisoned. Alas, that it wasn't blusher mushroom,' the prince said nonsensically. Tiernan nods his chin at me. 'That girl thinks you're a fool for even being here.' I scowl, because that's not what I meant. 'Ah, Lady Wren,' Oak says, a lazy smile on his mouth. Marigold hair brushing his forehead, half-hiding his horns. 'You wound me.”

Holly BlackSmilingThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarJokingTiernanPoisoned
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“You have an unusual voice,' he says. 'Raspy. Quite fetching, really.' 'I damaged my vocal cords a long time ago,' I inform him. 'Screaming.' Oak steps between us, and I am grateful for the reprieve. 'What a fine gentleman you make, Jack.' Jack turns to the prince, his sinister smile dropped back into place. 'Oak and Wren, Wren and Oak. Delightful. Named for woodland creatures, but neither of you so simple.' He glances at Tiernan and Hyacinthe. 'Not nearly as simple as these two.”

Holly BlackThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarTiernanHyacintheKelpieJack Of The Lake
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“Once, the thing I am wearing was a sundress, with fluttery sleeves. A diaphanous white gown that flowed around me when I spun. I found it in a shop late one night. I'd stripped off the clothes given to me in the Court of Teeth, left them behind, and put them on instead. I liked the dress so much that I wove myself a crown of hellebores and danced through the night streets. I stared at myself in puddles, convinced that so long as I didn't smile, I might even be pretty. I know it doesn't look like that anymore, but I can no longer picture myself in anything else. I wish Oak could have seen the dress as it was, even though it hasn't looked that way in a long time.”

Holly BlackThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarDressSundressFlower CrownHellebores
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“I stomp back through the hall to my room and swing open the door, only to find Oak lounging in one of the chairs, his long limbs spread out in shameless comfort. A flower crown of myrtle rests just above his horns. With it, he wears a new shirt of white linen and scarlet trousers embroidered with vines. Even his hooves appear polished. He looks every bit the handsome faerie prince, beloved by everyone and everything. Rabbits probably eat from his hands. Blue jays try to feed him worms meant for their own children.”

Holly BlackHandsomeFaerieThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarLoungingFaerie Prince
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“Wren, you have plenty of reasons not to trust me right now, but I do intend to stop Lady Nore. And I believe we can. Though I plan on bringing back Madoc, we will still have gone a deed no one can deny was of service to Elfhame. Whatever trouble I will be in, you'll be a hero.' I am not sure anyone has considered me that, not even the people I've saved. 'And if I decide to part ways? Are you going to tie my hands and drag me along with you?' He looks at me with trickster eyes beneath arched golden brows. 'Not unless you scratch me again.' 'Why do you want to help him?' I ask. Madoc had been willing to use Oak as a path to power, at the least. 'He's my father,' he says, as though that should be enough.”

FatherHolly BlackHeroismThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarMadocLady Nore
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“Behind the abandoned house, two faerie horses chew on dandelions as they wait for their riders. Slight as deer, with a soft halo of light surrounding their bodies, they glide between the trees like ghosts. Oak goes to the first. Her coat a soft grey, her mane braided into something that looks like netting, and which is hung with gold beads. Tooled leather saddlebags rest against her flanks. She nuzzles into his hand.”

Holly BlackFaerieThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenHorsesOakOak GreenbriarMagical CreaturesFaerie Horses
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“At seventeen, he has grown tall, towering over me, lithe and finely muscled. His hair catches the moonlight, warm gold threaded with platinum, bangs parting around small goat horns, eyes of shocking amber, and a constellation of freckles across his nose. He has a trickster's mouth and the swagger of someone used to people doing what he wanted.”

AppearanceHolly BlackFaerieThe Stolen HeirSwaggerOakOak GreenbriarFrecklesHigh FaeTrickster
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“A young man with goat feet and horns, wearing a shirt of golden scale mail and holding a thing-bladed rapier, steps in the pool of light near a building. His face is expressionless, like someone in a dream. I note the curls of his tawny blond hair tucked behind his pointed ears, the garnet-coloured cloak tossed over wide shoulders, the scar along one side of his throat, a circlet at his brow. He moves as though he expects the world to bend to his will. ... His amber eyes are bright, like those of a fox, but there is nothing warm in them.”

Holly BlackFaerieThe Stolen HeirOakOak GreenbriarPrinceHigh FaeExpressionlessRapier
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“Do you want to play a game?' He shuffled closer, eyes bright. Reaching into his pocket, he produced some little metal figures. Three silver foxes resting in the middle of his callused palm. Inset chips of peridot sparkled in their eyes. ... 'How do we play?' 'You throw them.' He formed a cage of his hands with the foxes inside, shook it up, and then tossed them into the grass. 'If they land standing, you get ten points. If they land on their backs, you get five points. If they land on their side, no points.”

GamesHolly BlackGameThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenOakOak GreenbriarPlayingFlashback
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“I squeeze his arm as Heather sticks the food in the oven. “Of course she will. Think of being here with Vivi as an apprenticeship. You learn what you need to know, and then you come home.” “How will I know when I’ve learned it, since I don’t know it now?” he asks. The question sounds like a riddle. “Come back when returning feels like a hard choice instead of an easy one,” I answer finally. Vivi looks over, as though she’s overheard. Her expression is thoughtful.”

JudeOakVivi
Book:The Cruel Prince
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“Then he gives me his quicksilver smile, the kind that makes me feel as though we are friends conspiring together. 'Since you're in a benevolent mood, perhaps you'll also dance with me.' My surprise must be evident. 'Why?' He grins. 'To celebrate you continuing with this quest. Because we're at a party. So that Queen Annet believes we've got nothing to hide.' 'Do we have something to hide?' I ask. He smiles wider, giving me a tug toward the revellers. 'Always.”

DanceHolly BlackSmilingThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenHideOakOak GreenbriarAsking To Dance
Book:The Stolen Heir
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“Shall we put our dance practice to some purpose?' he asks. 'Dance?' I ask, my voice coming out a little high. His gaze goes to the circles of leaping and cavorting Folk. I wonder if he is in shock. I have just come from betraying him. I feel rather shocked about it. I put my hand in his as if mesmerised. There is only the warmth of his fingers against my chilly skin. His amber fox eyes, pupils wide and dark. His teeth catch his lip, as though he's nervous. I reach up and touch his cheek. Blood and freckles. He's shaking a little. I guess if I'd done what he did, I'd still be shaking, too.”

DanceNervousHolly BlackThe Stolen HeirOakOak GreenbriarAsking To DanceMesmerised
Book:The Stolen Heir
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