The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

“I do not want simple. I do not want easy or small or uncomplicated. I want my life to be messy and ugly and wicked and wild, and I want to feel it all. All those things that women are made to believe they are strange for harboring in their hearts. And I want to surround myself with those same strange, wicked women who throw themselves open to all the wondrous things this world has to offer. Perhaps I’m spiraling into sentimental prose, but at this moment, I feel that I could swallow the world whole.”

Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix

“Sometimes I think Xifeng’s the only one who knows what women are capable of, and that’s why she’s on that throne. I don’t agree with anything she’s done, but she believed in herself, and that’s what’s missing in me. If I don’t believe in myself, why should you? Why should my people?”

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“You are indeed bound for the glory she foresees, if you choose that path. But isn’t it better not to know? Isn’t it better to wake up each day, living for the present rather than waiting for the future?”

The Shadow Queen

“I believe in you, and I’ve fought for you, because in a world full of people who crumble before an evil too terrifying to comprehend, you put up your fists and fight.”

The Crown’s Fate

“I love you, my sunshine. And that’s what happens when you love someone. Sacrifices stop being sacrifices simply because they make you happy. Caring for you makes me happy. So it’s not a sacrifice. It’s what I want to do.”