“Because you may be the bravest, boldest soul I’ve ever met, but you’re still too much flesh and blood and too little power.

Lila Bard lived by a simple rule: if a thing was worth having, it was worth taking.

His smug expression was gone, replaced by surprise, the emotion preserved by death like an insect in amber.

Grey for the magic-less city. Red, for the healthy empire. White, for the starving world.

So much of the Grey world was clunky, but now and then its lack of magic led to ingenuity. Take its music boxes. A complex but elegant design. So many parts, so much work, all to create a little tune.