The Bone Carver Quotes

“With the Cauldron, you could do other things than raise the dead. You could destroy the wall.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“The boy's smile was a mockery of innocence. 'Are you frightened?'

'Yes,' I said. Never lie- that had been Rhys's first command.

The boy stood, but kept to the other side of the cell. 'Feyre,' he murmured, cocking his head. The orb of faelight glazed the inky hair in silver. 'Fay-ruh,' he said again, drawing out the syllables as if he could taste them. At last, he straightened his head. ''Where did you go when you died?'

'A question for a question,' I replied, as I'd been instructed over breakfast.
...
Rhys gave me a subtle nod, but his eyes were wary. Because what the boy had asked...

I had to calm my breathing to think- to remember.

But there was blood and death and pain and screaming- and she was breaking me, killing me so slowly, and Rhys was there, roaring in fury as I died. Tamlin begging for my life on his knees before her throne... But there was so much agony, and I wanted it to be over, wanted it all to stop-

Rhys had gone rigid while he monitored the Bone Carver, as if those memories were freely flowing past the mental shields I'd made sure were intact this morning. And I wondered if he thought I'd give up then and there.

I bunched my hands into fists.

I had lived; I had gotten out. I would get out today.

'I heard the crack,' I said. Rhys's head whipped toward me. 'I heard the crack when she broke my neck. It was in my ears, but also inside my skull. I was gone before I felt anything more than the first lash of pain.'

The Bone Carver's violet eyes seemed to glow brighter.

'And then it was dark. A different sort of dark than this place. But there was a... thread,' I said. 'A tether. And I yanked on it- and suddenly I could see. Not through my eyes, but- but his,' I said, inclining my head toward Rhys. I uncurled the finger of my tattooed hand. 'And I knew I was dead, and this tiny scrap was all that was left of me, clinging to the thread of our bargain.'

'But was there anyone there- were you seeing anything beyond?'

'There was only that bond in the darkness.'

Rhysand's face had gone pale, his mouth a tight line. 'And when I was Made anew,' I said, 'I followed that bond back- to me. I knew that home was on the other end of it. There was light then. Like swimming up through sparkling wine-'

'Were you afraid?'

'All I wanted was to return to- to the people around me. I wanted it badly enough I didn't have room for fear. The worst had happened and the darkness was calm and quiet. It did not seem like a bad thing to fade into. But I wanted to go home. So I followed the bond home.'

'There was no other world,' the Bone Carver pushed.

'If there was or is, I did not see it.'

'No light, no portal?'

Where is it that you want to go? The question almost leaped off my tongue. 'It was only peace and darkness.'

'Did you have a body?'

'No.'

'Did-'

'That's enough from you,' Rhysand purred- the sound like velvet over sharpest steel. 'You said a question for a question. Now you've asked...' He did a tally on his fingers. 'Six.'

The Bone Carver leaned back against the wall and slid to a sitting position. 'It is a rare day when I meet someone who comes back from true death. Forgive me for wanting to peer behind the curtain.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“Tell me a secret no one knows, Lord of Night, and I'll tell you mine.'

I braced myself for whatever horrible truth was about to come my way. But Rhysand said, 'My right knee gets a twinge of pain when it rains. I wrecked it during the War, and it's hurt ever since.'

The Bone Carver bit out a harsh laugh, even as I gaped at Rhys. 'You always were my favourite.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“The Carver stroked the shard of bone in his palm, attention fixed upon a stone-faced Cassian. 'What if I tell you what the rock and darkness and sea and beyond whispered to me, Lord of Bloodshed? How they shuddered in fear, on that island across the sea. How they trembled when she emerged. She took something- something precious. She ripped it out with her teeth.'

Cassian's golden-brown face had drained of colour, his wings tucking in tight.

'What did you wake that day in Hybern, Prince of Bastards?'

My blood went cold.

'What come out was not what went in.' A rasping laugh as the Carver laid the shard of bone on the ground beside him. 'How lovely she is- new as a fawn and yet ancient as the sea. How she calls to you. A queen, as my sister once was. Terrible and proud, beautiful as a winter sunrise.'

Rhys had warned me of the inmates' capacity to lie, to sell anything, to get free.

'Nesta,' the Bone Carver murmured. 'Nes-ta.'

I squeezed Cassian's hand. Enough. It was enough of this teasing and taunting. But he didn't look at me.

'How the wind moans her name. Can you hear it, too? Nesta. Nesta. Nesta.'

I wasn't sure Cassian was breathing.

'What did she do, drowning in the ageless dark? What did she take?”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“Rhysand at last released my hand, only to lay his once more on the bare stone. It rippled beneath his palm, forming- a door.

Like the gates above, it was of ivory- bone. And in its surface were etched countless images: flora and fauna, seas and clouds, stars and moons, infants and skeletons, creatures fair and foul-”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“There was a choice- in Death,' I said.

Those eyes guttered with cobalt fire.

Rhys's hand contracted on my back, but remained. Warm, steady. And I wondered if the touch was more to reassure him that I was there, still breathing.

'I knew,' I went on, 'that I could drift away into the dark. And I chose to fight- to hold on for a bit longer. Yet I knew if I wanted, I could have faded. And maybe it would be a new world, a realm of rest and peace. But I wasn't ready for it- not to go there alone. I knew there was something else waiting beyond that dark. Something good.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“When Amarantha made me kill those two faeries, if the third hadn't been Tamlin, I would have put the dagger in my own heart at the end.'

Rhys went still.

'I knew there was no coming back from what I'd done,' I said, wondering if the blue flame in the Carver's eyes might burn my ruined soul to ash. 'And once I broke their curse, once I knew I'd saved them, I just wanted enough time to turn that dagger on myself. I only decided I wanted to live when she killed me, and I knew I had not finished whatever... whatever it was I'd been born to do.'

I dared a glance at Rhys, and there was something like devastation on his beautiful face. It was gone in a blink.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“The orb of faelight bobbed ahead, illuminating the stone-hewn cell.

Cassian growled at what it revealed. Who it revealed.

Wholly different, no doubt, from the same young boy who now smiled at me.

Dark-haired, with eyes of crushing blue.

I started at the child's face- what I had not noticed that first time. What I had not understood.

It was Rhysand's face. The colouring, the eyes... it was my mate's face.

But the Carver's full, wide mouth curled into that hideous smile... That was my mouth. My father's mouth.

The hair on my arms rose. The Carver inclined his head in greeting- in greeting and in confirmation, as if he knew precisely what I realised. Who I had seen and was still seeing.

The High Lord's son. My son. Our son. Should we survive long enough to bear him.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“I am forgotten, that's what I am. And that's how I prefer to be.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“What does he look like?

The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant.

I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly. Let me show you.

And as we walked through the darkness, toward that distant, still-hidden light, I did.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

“I wanted to see if you were worth helping,' the Carver went on. 'It's a rare person to face who they truly are and not run from it- not be broken by it. That's what the Ouroboros shows all who look into it: who they are, every despicable and unholy inch. Some gaze upon it and don't realise that the horror they're seeing is them- even as the terror of it drives them mad. Some swagger in and are shattered by the small, sorry creature they find instead. But you... Yes, rare indeed. I could risk leaving here for nothing less.'

Rage- blistering rage started to fill in the holes left by what I'd beheld in that mirror. 'You wanted to see if I was worthy?' That innocent people were worthy of being helped.

A nod. 'I did. And you are. And now I shall help you.'

I debated slamming the cell door in his face.

But I only said quietly, 'Good.' I walked over to him. And I was not afraid as I grabbed the Bone Carver's cold hand. 'Then let's begin.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin