Vivi Duarte Quotes

“Vivi blows a noisemaker. 'Here,' she says, passing out paper crowns for us to wear.

'This is ridiculous,' I complain, but put mine on.

Cardan looks at his reflection in the door of the microwave and adjusts his crown so it's at an angle.

I roll my eyes, and he gives me a quick grin. And my heart hurts a little because we are all together and safe, and it wasn't something I'd known how to want. And Cardan looks a little shy in the face of all this happiness, as unused to it as I am. There will be struggles to come, I am certain, but right now I am equally sure we will find our way through them.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“She turned to me, head tilted, her expression pure confusion. As though I had no reason to be afraid of a broken heart. She had no idea how dangerous a broken heart could be.”
― Holly Black, The Lost Sisters

“Vivi and Heather take them out for bubble tea. There are no actual bubbles. Instead, he is served toothsome balls soaked in a sweet, milky tea. Vivi orders grass jelly, and Heather gets a lavender drink that is the colour of the flowers and just as fragrant.

Cardan is fascinated and insists on having a sip of each. Then he eats a bite of the half-dozen types of dumplings they order- mushroom, cabbage and pork, cilantro and beef, hot-oil chicken dumplings that numb his tongue, then creamy custard to cool it, along with sweet red bean that sticks to his teeth.

Heather glares at Cardan as though he bit the head off a sprite in the middle of a banquet.

'You can't eat some of a dumpling and put it back,' Oak insists. 'That's revolting.'

Cardan considers villainy takes many forms, and he is good at all of them.

Jude stabs the remainder of the bean bun with a single chopstick, popping it into her mouth and chewing with obvious satisfaction. 'Gooh,' she gets out when she notices the others looking at her.

Vivi laughs and orders more dumplings.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“Madoc would be so proud- his little girl, remembering all her training,' she says. 'Starving off the terrifying possibility of romance.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“Love is a noble cause,' Vivi reminded her. 'How can anything done in the service of a noble cause be wrong?”
― Holly Black, The Lost Sisters

“The first thing I noticed about her was that she had a smear of blue ink on her nose,' Vivi said. 'The second thing I noticed were her eyes, the colour of darkest amber. When she spoke, I was afraid she was talking to someone else.”
― Holly Black, The Lost Sisters

“...she speculates about all the aspects of the mortal world she's going to have to explain to Dad. 'Like cell phones,' she says. 'Or self-checkout in the grocery store. Oh, this is going to be amazing. Seriously, his exile is the best present you ever got me.'

'You know that he's going to be so bored that he's going to try to micromanage your life,' Taryn says. 'Or plan your invasion of a neighbouring apartment building.'

At that, Vivi stops smiling.

It makes Oak giggle, though.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“I used to wish that Madoc never went looking for those girls, and now all I wish is that we could be together again as we once were.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Sometimes it's easier to be mad at the people close to us,' Vivi said, 'than to be mad at the people who deserve it.”
― Holly Black, The Lost Sisters

“You did a brave thing. Be glad of that. Not everyone can be brave. I'm not always.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“Taryn is beautiful in her heavily embroidered dress, and Vivi radiant in soft violet grey with artfully sewn moths seeming to fly from her shoulder across her chest to gather in another group on one side of her waist. I realise how rarely I've seen her in truly splendid clothes. Her hair is up, and my earrings glitter in her lightly furred ears. Her cat eyes gleam in the half light, twin to Madoc's. For once, that makes me smile.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“I remember how angry she was when Taryn and I gave in to Faerie and started having fun. Crowns of flowers on our heads, shooting bows and arrows at the sky. Eating candied violets and falling asleep with our heads pillowed on logs. We were children. Children can laugh all day and still cry themselves to sleep at night. But to hold a blade in my hand, a blade like the one that killed my parents, and think it was a toy, she'd have to believe I was heartless.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“What are you going to tell her?'

'That I'll do whatever she wants,' my sister says, an extravagant vow for a mortal and a downright terrifying vow from someone who would be bound to that promise.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“It's ridiculous the way everyone acts like killing a king is going to make someone better at being one,' Vivi says. 'Imagine if, in the mortal world, a lawyer passed the bar by killing another lawyer.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“I look down at my sisters, hurrying through the snow. My sisters, who despite everything, came for me.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“I told Vee she had to go on a quest. She has to meet me all over again and do it right this time. Tell me the truth from the start. And convince me to love her.'

'Damn.' The last of my armour comes off, clanking to the floor, and I realise that her talking has distracted me enough for my breathing to return to normal. 'That is some serious fairy-tale business. A quest.'

Heather reaches out her hand to take mine. 'If she succeeds, all my memories come back. But if not, then tonight's the last time I am going to see you.'

'I hope you drink the cellars dry at the revel,' I say to her, pulling her in to a tight embrace. 'But more than that. I hope Vee is good enough to win your hand again.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“Dad," Vivi says. "Stay where you are. If you try to stop her, I've got plenty more arrows, and I've been waiting half my life to put you in the ground.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing