cali ⊹₊♚₊⊹'s Reviews > The Wicked King

“Kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “Kiss me until I am sick of it.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“The three of you have one solution to every problem. Murder. No key fits every lock.” Cardan gives us all a stern look, holding up a long-fingered hand with my stolen ruby ring still on one finger. “Someone tries to betray the High King, murder. Someone gives you a harsh look, murder. Someone disrespects you, murder. Someone ruins your laundry, murder.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“He looks up at me with his night-colored eyes, beautiful and terrible all at once. “For a moment,” he says, “I wondered if it wasn’t you shooting bolts at me.”

I make a face at him. “And what made you decide it wasn’t?”

He grins up at me. “They missed.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Tell me again what you said at the revel,” he says, climbing over me, his body against mine.

“What?” I can barely think.

“That you hate me,” he says, his voice hoarse. “Tell me that you hate me.”

“I hate you,” I say, the words coming out like a caress. I say it again, over and over. A litany. An enchantment. A ward against what I really feel. “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”

He kisses me harder.

“I hate you,” I breathe into his mouth. “I hate you so much that sometimes I can’t think of anything else.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Kill him before he makes you love him.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“If he thought I was bad, I would be worse. If he thought I was cruel, I would be horrifying.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“If you’re the sickness, I suppose you can’t also be the cure.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“His eyes are open, watching my flushed face, my ragged breathing. I try to stop myself from making embarrassing noises. It’s more intimate than the way he’s touching me, to be looked at like that. I hate that he knows what he’s doing and I don’t. I hate being vulnerable. I hate that I throw my head back, baring my throat. I hate the way I cling to him, the nails of one hand digging into his back, my thoughts splintering, and the single last thing in my head: that I like him better than I’ve ever liked anyone and that of all the things he’s ever done to me, making me like him so much is by far the worst.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring. The first lesson is to make yourself that strong.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“The point of a fight is not to have a good fight, it’s to win.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“And the single last thing in my head: that I like him better than I've ever liked anyone and that of all the things he's ever done to me, making me like him so much is by far the worst.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“The Folk doubtlessly learned this lesson long ago. They do not need to deceive humans. Humans will deceive themselves.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Once upon a time, there was a human girl stolen away by faeries, and because of that, she swore to destroy them.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Your ridiculous family might be surprised to find that not everything is solved by murder,” Locke calls after me.

“We would be surprised to find that,” I call back.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Our eyes meet, and something dangerous sparks.

He hates you, I remind myself.

“Kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “Kiss me until I am sick of it.”

I feel those words, feel them like a kick to the stomach. He sees my expression and laughs, a sound full of mockery. I can’t tell which of us he’s laughing at.

He hates you. Even if he wants you, he hates you.

Maybe he hates you the more for it.

After a moment, his eyes flutter closed. His voice falls to a whisper, as though he’s talking to himself. “If you’re the sickness, I suppose you can’t also be the cure.”

He drifts off to sleep, but I am wide awake.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I have said that he has the power to deliver a compliment and make it hurt. So, too, he can say something that ought to be insulting and deliver it in such a way that it feels like being truly seen.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“It is said we learn more from our failures than our successes.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Watching my back is the perfect opportunity to stick a knife in it.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I’ve wanted this and feared it, and now that it’s happening, I don’t know how I will ever want anything else.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Nicasia said that as mortal power grows, land and sea ought to be united. And that they would be, either in the way she hoped or the way I should fear.”

“Ominous,” I say.

“It seems I have a singular taste for women who threaten me.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“His mouth curls into a smile. His eyes shine with wicked intent. “Look at them all, your subjects. A shame not a one knows who their true ruler is.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Why am I the way I am?” His tone makes it clear he’s proposing something I might suggest he ask, not really wondering about it. “There are no real answers, Jude. Why was I cruel to Folk? Why was I awful to you? Because I could be. Because I liked it. Because, for a moment, when I was at my worst, I felt powerful, and most of the time, I felt powerless, despite being a prince and the son of the High King of Faerie.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“For a moment, there is silence between us.

He takes a step toward me. “The other night—”

I cut him off. “I did it for the same reason that you did. To get it out of my system.”

“And is it?” he asks. “Out of your system?”

I look him in the face and lie. “Yes.”

If he touches me, if he even takes another step toward me, my deceit will be exposed. I don’t think I can keep the longing off my face. Instead, to my relief, he gives a thin-lipped nod and departs.

From the next room, I hear the Roach call out to Cardan, to offer to teach him the trick of levitating a playing card. I hear Cardan laugh.

It occurs to me that maybe desire isn’t something overindulging helps. Maybe it is not unlike mithridatism; maybe I took a killing dose when I should have been poisoning myself slowly, one kiss at a time.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Yes, my great villan, my darling god. I will be as sober as a stone carving, just as soon as I can”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Sweet Jude, you’re my dearest punishment”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“The disturbing thing about Cardan is how well he plays the fool to disguise his own cleverness.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“You said that you thought Queen Orlagh was waiting for an advantage to declare war. Instead, I think she is trying a new ruler—one she hopes she can trick or replace with another indebted to her. She thinks me young and feckless and means to take my measure.”

“So what?” I ask. “Our choice is to endure her games, no matter how deadly, or engage in a war we cannot win?”

Cardan shakes his head and drinks another cup of tea. “We show her that I am no feckless High King.”

“And how do we do that?” I ask.

“With great difficulty,” he says. “Since I fear she is right.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“It was good to be hugged. Even by a monster.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“He continues looking at me in this strange way, as though he’s never seen me before or as though he thought he might never see me again.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I wasn't kind, Jude. Not to many people. Not to you. I wasn't sure if I wanted you or if I wanted you gone from my sight so that I would stop feeling as I did, which made me even more unkind. But when you were gone—truly gone beneath the waves—I hated myself as I never have before.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“You could still be lying,” says the Roach. He turns to Cardan. “Try her.”

“Your pardon?” Cardan says, drawing himself up, and the Roach seems to suddenly remember to whom he’s speaking in such an offhanded way.

“Don’t be such a prickly rose, Your Majesty,” the Roach says with a shrug and a grin. “I’m not giving you an order. I’m suggesting that if you tried to glamour Jude, we could find out the truth.”

Cardan sighs and walks toward me. I know this is necessary. I know that he doesn’t intend to hurt me. I know he can’t glamour me. And yet I draw back automatically.

“Jude?” he asks.

“Go ahead,” I say.

I hear the glamour enter his voice, heady and seductive and more powerful than I expected. “Crawl to me,” he says with a grin. Embarrassment pinks my cheeks.

I stay where I am, looking at all their faces. “Satisfied?”

The Bomb nods. “You’re not charmed.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“He stares at me in blankly. “Are you accusing me of not caring for your sister?” he asks.

“If I truly believed you didn’t care for Taryn, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

He gives a long sigh. “Because you’d murder me?”

“If you’re playing with Taryn, Madoc will murder you; I won’t even get a chance.”

I sheath my knife and head toward the door.

“Your ridiculous family might be surprised to find that not everything is solved by murder,” Locke calls after me.

“We would be surprised to find that,” I call back.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I want to have some reaction. I want to tremble or feel nauseated. I want to be the person who begins to weep. I want to be anyone but the person I am, who looks around to be sure no one saw, who wipes off my knife in the dirt, wipes off my hand on his clothes, and gets out of there before the guards come.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Revenge is sweet, but ice cream is sweeter.” She goes to the freezer and removes a tub of mint chocolate chip. She brings that and two spoons back to the sofa. “For now, accept this delight, unworthy though it is for the Queen of Faerie in exile.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“A king is a living symbol, a beating heart, a star upon which Elfhame's future is written. Surely you have noticed that since his reign began, the isles are different. Storms come in faster. Colors are a bit more vivid, smells are sharper.... When he becomes drunk, his subjects becomes tipsy without knowing why. When his blood falls, things grow.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“You put a curse on that girl over there,” I tell him. “Fix her immediately.”
“She admired my ears,” the boy says. “I was only giving her what she desired. A party favor.”
“That’s what I am going to say after I gut you and use your entrails as streamers,” I tell him. “I was only giving him what he wanted. After all, if he didn’t want to be eviscerated, he would have honored my very reasonable request. ”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“But what if I actually am becoming besotted with him?
Cardan is more knowledgeable than I am at love. He could use that against me, just as I asked him to use it against Nicasia. Perhaps he found a way to turn the tables after all.
Kill him, a part of me says, a part I remember from the night I took him captive. Kill him before he makes you love him.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“He kisses the scar of my palm.
I still have his brother’s blood under my fingernails.
I don’t have a ring for him.
Above us, the buds are blooming. The whole room smells of flowers.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I hope Cardan misses me.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Marry me,” he says. “Become the Queen of Elfhame.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I kissed him on the mouth, and then I threatened to kiss him some more if he didn't do exactly what I wanted.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I hope it unnerves them to know that I am lying.
After all, if the insult to me is pointing out that I am mortal, then this is my riposte: I live here, too, and I know the rules. Perhaps I even know them better than you since you were born into them, but I had to learn. Perhaps I know them better than you because you have greater leeway to break them.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I am not sure I sleep, but I do dream.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“We get power by taking it.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I still feel the warm pressure of his fingers against my skin. Something is really wrong with me, to want what I hate, to want someone who despises me, even if he wants me, too. My only comfort is that he doesn’t know what I feel.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Better she never be a bride than wind up a widow”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I’m no longer a child, and I don’t need comfort.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I need to make her realize that even terrible memories are better than weird gaps or the hollowness of your feelings not making sense.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King