Quotes From "An Ember In The Ashes" By Sabaa Tahir

Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing....
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Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after. Such moments are tests of courage, of strength. Sabaa Tahir
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Fear can be good, Laia. It can keep you alive. But don't let it control you. Don't let it sow doubts within you. When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. Your heart. Sabaa Tahir
I never feared the night, not even as a child,...
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I never feared the night, not even as a child, but Blackcliff’s night is different, heavy with a silence that makes you look over your shoulder, a silence that feels like a living thing. Sabaa Tahir
Seeing the enemy as human. A general's ultimate nightmare.
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Seeing the enemy as human. A general's ultimate nightmare. Sabaa Tahir
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There will be so much more in between. So much uncertainty. I don't know if we'll survive the catacombs, let alone the rest of it. But it doesn't matter. For now, these steps are enough. These first few precious steps into darkness. Into the unknown. Into freedom. Sabaa Tahir
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Exhaustion is temporary. Pain is temporary. But Helene dying because I didn't find a way to get her back on time–that's permanent. Sabaa Tahir
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When did you star here?” I ask her.“ Three days ago. Sir. Aspirant. Um–” She wrings her hands.“ Veturius is fine.” She walks carefully, gingerly–the Commandant must have whipped her recently. And yet she doesn't hunch or shuffle like the others slaves. The straight-backed grace with which she moves tells her story better than words. She'd been a freewoman before this– I'd bet my scims on it. And she has no idea how pretty she is–or what kind of problems her beauty will cause for her at a place like Blackcliff. The wind pulls at her hair again, and I catch her scent–like fruit and sugar. “Can I give you some advi. Sabaa Tahir
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The voice is deep and soft, not a sound so much as a feeling. It is storm and wind and leaves twisting in the night. It is roots sucking deep at the earth, and the pale, sightless creatures that live below the ground. But there’s something wrong with this voice, something diseased at its core. Sabaa Tahir
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Rage colors her every movement. Rage that has nothing to do with her so-called bodyguards and everything to do with me and her and the confusion rolling around inside the both of us. This should be interesting Sabaa Tahir
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I don't smile at her. It will only scare her. For a female slave, a smile from a Mask is not usually a good thing. Sabaa Tahir
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Fight back, Laia. For Darin. For Izzi. For every Scholar this beast has abused. Fight. A scream bursts from me, and I claw at Marcus’s face, but a punch to my stomach takes the wind out of my lungs. I double over, retching, and his knee comer up into my forehead. The hallway spins, and I drop to my knees. Then I hear him laughting, a sadistic chuckle that stokes my defiance. Sluggishly, I throw myself at his legs. It won’t be like before, like during the raid when I let that Mask drag me about my own house like some dead thing. This time, I’ll fight. Tooth and nail, I’ll fight. . Sabaa Tahir
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There are two kinds of guilt: the kind that drowns you until you’re useless, and the kind that fires your soul to purpose. Sabaa Tahir
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Are the Trials starting?” The girl claps her hands over her mouth. “I'm sorry, ” she whispers. “I–”“It's all right.” I don't smile at her. It will only scare her. For a female slave, a smile from a Mask is not usually a good thing. “I'm actually wondering the same thing. What's your name?”“ S-slave- Girl.” Of course. My mother would already have scourged her name out of existence.“ Right. You work for the Commandant?” I want her to say no. I want her to say that my mother roped her into this. I want her to say she's assigned to the kitchens or infirmary, where slaves aren't scarred or missing body p . Sabaa Tahir
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We match each other stroke for stroke until I get a hit on her right arm. She tries to switch sword arms, but I jab my scim at her wrist faster than she can parry. Her scim goes flying, and I tackle her. Her white-blonde hair tumbles free of her bun.“ Surrender! ” I pin her down at the wrists, but she trashes and rips one arm free, scrabbling for a dagger at her waist. Steel stabs at my ribs, and seconds later, I am on my back with a blade at my throat.“ Ha! ” She leans down, her hair falling around us like a shimmering silver curtain. Sabaa Tahir
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She's still clinging to the side of her mountain, just like I'm still wandering lost in my battlefield. Sabaa Tahir
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You–you were like me. You were a child. A normal child. And that was taken from you.”“ Does that bother you?”“ Well, it certainly makes you harder to hate. Sabaa Tahir