WHY WE LOVE CARDAN GREENBRIAR: quotes:
â Bold of You to assume I know what Iâm doing.â
â Cardan doesnât add that he laughs when he is nervous.â
âIâm nervous. I smile a lot when Iâm nervous. I canât help it. â
âWeâre all trapped in cages, little sprite. How can I free you when I canât even free myself? â
âI am certain you are about to enlighten meâ
âI have many other, even worse, qualities.â
âHow ought I know? You do whatever it is mortals do in your land.â
âI was reading, not sulking. But I am happy enough to be distracted. May I carry your basket?â
âThis is most certainly not the story you told me when I was nineâ
âI would have my room. Perhaps you two might take whatever this is elsewhere.â
âStop telling me who I am. I am tired of your stories.â
âBut if you regret it, do not think that you will be able to call me back to your side like some forgotten plaything you mislaid for a while.â
âI am nothing, if not dramatic.â
âIf he thought I was bad, I would be so much worse.â
âMy sweet villain.â
âMy darling god.â
âMy sweet nemesis.â
âLessons are suspended for the afternoon, by royal whimâ
âWhich one? Which mortal girl?â
âYour pardon. Might you have some means by which I can navigate your land?â
âLet me tell you a storyâŠOnce upon a time, there was a boy with a clever tongue. Perhaps he had reasons to be awful, perhaps he was born bad, but no matter . None of it gave him much pleasure, so he went to the woods and begged a troll woman to turn his heart to stone. He was angry. And a fool. Thereafter he could neither pleasure nor pain, not fear nor hope. At first, it seemed like the blessing he had supposed it would be. But as the evening came, the boy was aware of the strangeness of feeling nothing at all. He had begged for the heart of stone, but for the first time, he felt the weight of it in his chest. He wondered if he ought to be afraid of what was to come. He wondered if there was something profoundly wrong with him that he could not. Though his heart was as hard and cold as ever, he wondered what he would feel if it were not.â
âYou donât think monster girls and wicked boys deserve love?â
âEveryone finds different lessons in stories, I suppose, but hereâs one: Having a heart is terrible, but you need one anyway. It doesnât matter if the boy with the heart of stone was the villain. It doesnât matter if he got what he deserved. No oneâs heart has to remain stone.â
âAnd you think it was sunrise I was waiting for and not my queen? Do you not hear her footfalls? She has never quite managed the trick of hiding them as well as one of the Folk. Surely youâve heard of her, Jude Duarte, who defeated the redcap Grima Mog, who brought the Court of Teeth to their knees? Sheâs forever getting me out of scrapes. Truly, I donât know what I would do without her.â
âYou didnât hear the story I told. A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like.â
âThere is one thing I did like about playing the hero. The only good bit. And that was not having to be terrified for you.â
âSo long as youâre beggingâ
âI am no murderer.â
âNever is like Forever.â
âTime to change partners. Oh, did I steal your line?â
â Ruling is like wine. It brings out the worst in anyone who takes too deep a draught, yet we all want a taste.â
âBut then it is my nature to only wants things I cannot have.â
âLocke hasnât gotten around to seducing me yet, if thatâs what youâre asking. I suppose, I should be insulted.â
âMost of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. Itâs disgusting, and I canât stop.â
âDo not expect others to share my depraved tastes.â
âAnd to Jude, who gave me a gift tonight. One that I plan to repay in kind.â
âI am the Corn King, after all, to be sacrificed so little Oak can take my place in the spring.â
âYou ought not to be here tonight, little ant. Go back to the palace.â
â You believe I planned your humiliation? Me? That sounds like work.â
âKiss me again, Kiss me until I am sick of it.â
âIf youâre the sickness, I suppose you canât also be the cure.â
âIt seems I have a singular taste for women who threaten me.â
âThe three of you have one solution to every problem. Murder. No key fits every lock.â
âYes, my great villain, my darling god. I will be as sober as a stone carving, just as soon as I canâ
âMarry me, Become the Queen of Elfhame.â
âI exile Jude Duarte to the mortal world. Until and unless she is pardoned by the crown, let her not step one foot in Faerie or forfeit her life.â
"I urge you: Come be angry at nearer distance.â
âCome home. Come home and shout at me. Come home and fight with me. Come home and break my heart, if you must. Just come home.â
âAbove me is the same silvery moon that shines down on you. Looking at it makes me recall the glint of your blade pressed against my throat and other romantic moments.â
â As you wish. Then I suppose I will have to examine you alone in my chambers.â
âDo not touch her.â
âShe is my wife, The rightful High Queen of Elfhame. And most definitely not in exile.â
âAlthough I am wearing the cloak Mother Marrow made me, the one that will turn any blade, I still promise to run, tail between my legs. And since I have a tail, that should be amusing for everyone. Are you satisfied?â
"I assume you werenât actually trying to shoot me, since the note was in your handwriting.â
âIt was terrifying, watching you fall. I mean, youâre generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then was furious. I am not sure I have ever been that angry before.â
"Not you, You never break.â
âPardoned by the crown. Meaning by The King Of Faerie. Or its queen. You could have returned anytime you wanted.â
âThere was a prophecy given when I was born. Usually Baphen is uselessly vague, but in this case, he made it clear that should I rule, I would make a very poor king. The destruction of the crown, the ruination of the throne- a lot of dramatic language. (..) I never minded being a minor villain, but itâs possible I might have grown into something else, a High King as monstrous as Dain. And if I did- if I fulfilled that prophecy- I ought to be stopped. And I believe that you would stop me.â
âWould you like me to inform the Council that you will see them another time? It will be a novelty to have me make your excuses.â
"No, no, enough. Itâs all too tedious to explain. I declare this meeting at an end. Leave us. I tire of the lot of you.â
âThis is my room, and thatâs my wife.â
âUnlike Locke, I never thought love was a game"
âTo you, I offer honey wine and the hospitality of my table. But to traitors and oath breakers, I offer my queenâs hospitality instead. The hospitality of knives.â
âYou looked like a knight in a story tonight. Possibly a filthy story.â
âMock me all you like. Whatever I imagined then, now it is I who would beg and grovel for a kind word from your lips. By you, I am forever undone.â
âNo, What YOU want.â
"My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned.â
âItâs you I love, I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didnât have one at all. Even now, it is shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours. You probably guessed as much, but just in case you didnât.â
âA King is not his crown.â
â I am the High King, and I do not forfeit that title to you, not for a sword or a show or my pride. It is worth more than any of those things. Besides which, two rulers stand before you. And even had you cut me down, one would remain.â
"But vows should never be to a crown. They should be to a ruler. And they should be of your own free will. I am your king, and beside me stands my queen. But it is your choice whether or not to follow us. Your will shall be your own.â
âI havenât worn anything in days, I donât see why I ought to start now.â
"Tomorrow, Or the next day. Or perhaps next week.â And with that, he rises, takes a long drink from his goblet, sets it down on the table, and walk to where I sit. âWill you dance?â
"You donât know how long Iâve waited to hear those words, You donât want me dead.â
âYou need not say it out of pity, or because I was under a curse. I have asked you to lie to me in the past, in this very room, but I would beg you not to lie now.â
âBecause I am clever and funny, You didnât mention my handsomeness.â
âIt was like being trapped in the dark. I was alone, any my instinct was to lash out. I was perhaps not entirely an animal, but neither was I myself. I could not reason. There were only feelings- hatred and terror and the desire to destroy. And you. I knew little else, but I always knew you.â
"He ought to have paid you in gold.â
âAnd scheming great schemes.â






















