Elias Veturius Quotes

“I wish I could live a thousand lives so I could fall in love with you a thousand times”
― Sabaa Tahir, A ​Sky Beyond the Storm

“You are my temple. You are my priest. You are my prayer. You are my release.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Reaper at the Gates

“Don't look so worried. Most successful missions are just a series of barely averted disasters.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Torch Against the Night

“As long as there is life, there is hope.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Laia and Helene: They’re so different. I like that Laia says things I don’t expect, that she speaks almost formally, as if she’s telling a story. I like that she defied my mother to go to the Moon Festival, whereas Helene always obeys the Commandant. Laia is the wild dance of a Tribal campfire, while Helene is the cold blue of an alchemist’s flame.

But why am I even comparing them? I’ve know Laia a few days and Helene all my life. Helene’s no passing attraction. She’s family. More than that. She’s part of me.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“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, An Ember in the Ashes

“How much pain exists in the world because we cannot get past what has been done to us, because we insist on inflicting pain right back?”
― Sabaa Tahir, A ​Sky Beyond the Storm

“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, An Ember in the Ashes

“I’m not—” I consider. “Never mind. I am jealous. Tell me he’s old, at least? Or grouchy? Or maybe a bit stupid?” “He’s young. And handsome. And smart.” I snort. “He’s probably rubbish in be—” Laia smacks me on the arm. “Battle,” I say quickly. “I was going to say battle.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Reaper at the Gates

“Thank you, Soul Catcher.”
“Elias,” he says after a moment, the slightest bit of warmth entering those cold gray eyes. “From you I prefer Elias.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A ​Sky Beyond the Storm

“I will find you, Laia. I will find a way. This is not our end.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Reaper at the Gates

“The tapping grows insistent, and I turn, intending to tell off the Cadet. Instead, I'm faced with a slave-girl looking up at me through impossibly long eyelashes. A heated, visceral shock flares through me at the clarity of her dark gold eyes. For a second, I forget my name.
I've never seen her before, because if I had, I'd remember. Despite the heavy silver cuffs and high, painful-looking bun that mark all of Blackcliff's drudges, nothing about her says slave. Her black dress fits her like a glove, sliding over every curve in a way that makes more than one head turn. Her full lips and fine, straight nose would be the envy of most girls, Scholar or not. I stare at her, realize I'm staring, tell myself to stop staring, and then keep staring. My breath falters, and my body, traitor that is, tugs me forward until there are only inches between us.

“Asp-aspirant Veturius.”

It's the way she says my name—like it's something to fear—that brings me back to myself. Pull it together, Veturius. I step away, appalled at myself when I see the terror in her eyes.

“What is it?” I ask calmly.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“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 parts.

But the girl nods in response to my question. Don't let my mother break you, I think. The girl meets my eyes, and there is that feeling again, low and hot and consuming. Don't be weak. Fight. Escape.

A gust of wind whips a strand free from her bun and across her cheekbone. Defiance flashes across her face as she holds my gaze, and for a second, I see my own desire for freedom mirrored, intensified in her eyes. It's something I've never detected in the eyes of a fellow student, let alone a Scholar slave. For one strange moment, I feel less alone.

But then she looks down, and I wonder at my own naiveté. She can't fight. She can't scape. Not from Blackcliff. I smile joylessly; in this, at least, the slave and I are more similar than she'll ever know.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“You’re sure this is what you want?” I search her eyes for doubt, fear, uncertainty, but all I see is that fire. Ten hells
“I’m sure”
“Then I’ll find a way”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Torch Against the Night

“I miss you. I'll always miss you. Even when I'm a ghost.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Torch Against the Night

“After I pull my eyes away from her, I realize that I'm not the only one dumbstruck. Many of the young men around me sneak glances at her. She doesn't seem to notice, which, of course, makes her all the more intriguing.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“When did you start 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 advice?”

Her head flies up like a scared animal's. At least she's wary. “Right now you...” Will grab the attention of every male in a square mile. “Stand out,” I finish. “It's hot, but you should wear a hood or a cloak—something to help you blend in.”

She nods, but her eyes are suspicious. She wraps her arms around herself and drops back a little. I don't speak to her again.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“I’d say it’s impossible, but the Commandant trained the word out of me.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Torch Against the Night

“I'm too hot to care.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“We must understand the creatures, fey or human, who populate our tales. Respect them. Love them, despite the villainous things they do. We must see them. Else how will our stories echo in the hearts of those who hear them? How will the stories survive beyond one telling?”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Sky Beyond the Storm

“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, An Ember in the Ashes

“This life is not always what we think it will be. You are an ember in the ashes, Elias Veturius. You will spark and burn, ravage and destroy. You cannot change it. You cannot stop it.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“No one wants to fight for nothing.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A ​Sky Beyond the Storm

“What good is war, Blood Shrike?" The sadness etched into his face feels ancient, the sorrow of a Soul Catcher instead of the friend I've known since childhood. "How many have died because of a king's greed or a commander's pride? How much pain exists in the world because we cannot get past what has been done to us, because we insist on inflicting pain right back”
― Sabaa Tahir, A ​Sky Beyond the Storm

“Easy. Moments after putting the willadonna in, I’m swept into the heart of the festival with a tide of Scholars. I count twelve exits and identify twenty potential weapons before I realize what I’m doing and force myself to
relax.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“You think I want to feel this way about you? I hate it, Elias. Watching you flirt with Illustrian girls and sleep with Scholar slaves and find the good in everyone—everyone—but me.' A sob escapes her—the only time I've ever heard her cry. She chokes it back. 'Loving you is the worst thing that has ever happened to me—worse than the Commandant's whippings, worse than the Trials. It's torture, Elias.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Eu gostaria de viver mil vidas para me apaixonar por você mil vezes. Mas se tudo que tivermos for esta, e eu a compartilhar com você, então não vou querer mais nada”
― Sabaa Tahir, A ​Sky Beyond the Storm

“Rise, Elias Veturius.” Tas smacks my face, and I blink at him in surprise. His eyes are fierce. “You gave me a name,” he says. “I want to live to hear it on the lips of others. Rise.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Torch Against the Night

“Forgive her, if you can," I say. "Remember that fate is never what we think it will be. Your mother-my mother-we can never understand their torments. Their hurts. We may suffer the consequences of their mistakes and their sins, but we should not carry them on our hearts. We don't deserve that.”
― Sabaa Tahir, A Reaper at the Gates

“I wasn’t about to let the son
kill me after the father had failed.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes