SENTENCE STARTERS → KING OF SCARS BY LEIGH BARDUGO.
BEWARE SPOILERS. feel free to edit to fit your muse / situation.
❛ i like to keep you on your toes, [name]. constant anxiety does wonders for the complexion. ❜
❛ when you purse your lips like that, you look like you’ve made love to a lemon. ❜
❛ how is it i smell like goose shit and cheap whiskey and you smell like you just ran through a meadow of wildflowers? ❜
❛ perhaps i should have brushed up on my prayers. ❜
❛ you don’t enter a fight you can’t win. ❜
❛ then come here, [name], and kiss me sweetly as a new bride would. ❜
❛ we’ll tell each other lies as married couples do. it will be a good game. ❜
❛ how can you be so sure? perhaps the list of my talents is so long you just haven’t gotten to the end. ❜
❛ it will be all right. we’ll solve this problem as we’ve solved all the others before. ❜
❛ when the gods give you another look at the world, best enjoy it. ❜
❛ if men were ashamed when they should be, they’d have no time for anything else. ❜
❛ i know. [place]. if the cold doesn’t kill you, the smell will. ❜
❛ well, lucky you, [name]. you’re about to acquire me as a wife. i enjoy long naps and short engagements, and i prefer the left side of the bed. ❜
❛ fears are like weed. they grow wild if left unattended. ❜
❛ must you insist i stay human? ❜
❛ if i told you we needed magical dust to make me vomit peppermints, you’d probably say you could rig something up. ❜
❛ i’m afraid i have more bad news. ❜
❛ just think of all the dinners and tea and dancing. ❜
❛ one day you will overstep and i will not be so forgiving. ❜
❛ do that thing you do where you use too many words to say something simple and confuse the issue. ❜
❛ did i not promise particularly delicious trouble? ❜
❛ how drunk am i expected to get before this all starts looking better? ❜
❛ i knew you would turn on me. i just didn’t think it would be so soon. ❜
❛ i’m at my most murderous on an empty stomach. ❜
❛ i’m not keen on riots. unless they involve dancing, but i believe those are usually referred to as parties. ❜
❛ every day you choose the work of living. every day you choose to go on. there is no failure here, [name]. ❜
❛ i know you think me mad, but i have seen miracles. ❜
❛ here is a place to hide when you’re frightened, to play when you’re bored, to rest when the world seems unkind. ❜
❛ are you sure you don’t want to try trusting me, [name]? it’s positively intoxicating. ❜
❛ overreacting is throwing a tantrum when someone eats the last sweet roll. you were out for blood. ❜
❛ i suppose the secret is that i cannot stand being alone. but there are some places no one can go with us. ❜
❛ desperation makes people do ugly things, and it is always the girls who suffer first. ❜
❛ you owe me an entire crop of apologies. why start now? ❜
❛ hand me that brandy. i can’t tolerate this degree of stupidity on a clear head. ❜
❛ the trick to acting is to believe the lie yourself, at least a little. ❜
❛ is this the part where we die well? ❜
❛ i am the weapon. i don’t need a cudgel or a blade. ❜
❛ you can make up any happy ending you want, but you know it’s true. don’t ask me to sacrifice the hope of the living for the comfort of the dead. ❜
❛ i like to bet on myself whenever i can. but usually with other people’s money. ❜
❛ everyone mourns for the first blossom. who will weep for the rest that fall? ❜
❛ i will remain to sing for you, long after the spring has gone. ❜
❛ i’ve never met anyone like you. ❜
❛ when i said you were talented, i meant it. when i said you were glorious, i meant that too. ❜
❛ most women suffer for the sake of the flowers. but we who would wield power adorn ourselves in flowers to hide the sting of our thorns. ❜
❛ do not look back. your future is waiting. ❜
❛ can you forgive us? for being foolish? for being frail? for being fallible despite our great powers? can you forgive yourself? ❜
❛ i’m trying to do the responsible thing. i think it’s giving me indigestion. ❜
❛ why is it so easy for you to contemplate your death? ❜
❛ i suppose the world would be less interesting without you in it. ❜
❛ i wanted…strength. safety. i never wanted to feel helpless again. ❜
❛ i always figured i’d die young. why not do it shoving my boot up that murderer’s ass? ❜
❛ if we don’t dream, who will? ❜
❛ come back. promise you’ll come back to us. ❜
❛ of course i’ll come back. i don’t trust anyone else to deliver my eulogy. ❜
❛ remember who you are. ❜
❛ you were an able student. prove to me that you are a great one. ❜
❛ stop punishing yourself for being someone with a heart. you cannot protect yourself from suffering. to live is to grieve. ❜
❛ please don’t leave me. not you too. ❜
❛ what is it to be a god without worship? a queen without subjects? i was the witch in the wood, the queen on her throne, the goddess in her temple. i will be once more. i will savor fear and desire and awe again. ❜
❛ this time i saved you. this time i got it right. ❜
❛ i’m sorry for the hurt i caused. i’m sorry to have lost your trust. but we are soldiers, [name], warriors born. and we do what has to be done. ❜
❛ my only comfort is that you never could have been mine. but know that i would have gladly been yours. ❜
❛ you’ve been seen on the grounds, though no one seems to know where you go. ❜
❛ how could the world be falling apart before sunrise? it wasn’t civilized. ❜
❛ of course you should keep him here. preferably stuffed above my mantel. ❜
❛ now put on your most devout face, [name]. you make a darling heretic, but i need you looking pious. ❜
❛ we begin in darkness, and it is to darkness we return. ❜
❛ i’d like to see if an excess of irony can actually kill a man. ❜
❛ that’s what [name] said about absinthe. ❜
❛ it still tastes like sugar dipped in kerosene. ❜
❛ [name] does not need or want our approval. ❜
❛ [name], you are trespassing in territory you cannot begin to understand. ❜
❛ [name], if you upset my [wife/husband/etc.] again, i will kill you where you stand. ❜
❛ you’ve never threatened to murder anyone for me before. ❜
❛ i am a [king/queen/ruler]. i long for entertainment. ❜
❛ it’s not exciting if nothing can go wrong. ❜
❛ if they were truly afraid, you wouldn’t have to simper and preen. ❜
❛ regicide isn’t on my list of preferred crimes. ❜
❛ i saw nothing without explanation. ❜
❛ one of the only joys left to me is courting danger, and [place] offers few opportunities for it. ❜
❛ it’s good to be home. ❜
❛ sometimes you have to feed the demon. ❜
❛ i once got drunk and insisted you make me blond. ❜
❛ i wish there were no one in the world but you and me, that there were no countries, no kings and queens. ❜
❛ as free as i’ll ever be. ❜
❛ perhaps some light torture, then? or you could just let me kick him in the head for the next hour. ❜
❛ [place] made me a soldier. [place] made me a spy. ❜
❛ then i’ll just have to blow a hole in the wall. ❜
❛ our first job is always to survive. i won’t apologize for it. ❜
