You want me to pin my entire operation, the entire revolution on some teenaged love story? I can't believe this.

They don't know the meaning of danger or fear or pain. It's only their pride that can be truly hurt.

I do not fear pain.

I'm afraid of failing. I'm afraid of letting this opportunity pass us by. And I'm afraid of what happens if nothing in this world ever changes.

I am married to a prince who will one day be a king. Usually this is where the fairy tale ends. Stories don't go much further than this moment, and I fear there's a good reason for it. A sense of dread hung over today, a black cloud I still can't get rid of. It is an unease deep in the heart of me, feeding off my strength.

Words can lie. See beyond them.

Attend to your own fate.

One day he will leave, or die, or betray me like so many others have. One day, he will hurt me.

As you enter, you pray to leave. As you leave, you pray to never return.

When his flame falls, my lightning rises, and so on.

In school, we learned about the world before ours, about the angels and gods that lived in the sky, ruling the earth with kind and loving hands. Some say those are just stories, but I don't believe that. The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind.

Risk is part of the game.

He told me once that he didn't fear conscription as much as everyone else because the dozen bloodthirsty girls he was leaving behind were far more dangerous.