Sublime

Their fur rippled over sinewy shoulders and haunches like the sky molded to the landscape. Their spots were the darkness of clouds moving between moonlight and starshine.

It was a small act of pettiness, but by gentle, tenderhearted Martha’s standards, it was a declaration of all-out war, and Morrigan adored her for it.

I remembered what Odysseus had said about her once. That she never went astray, never made an error. I had been jealous then. Now I thought: what a burden. What an ugly weight upon your back.

Since they could remember, there had been a mixture of criticism and awe in the attitude of Celia’s mind towards her elder sister. The younger had always worn a yoke; but is there any yoked creature without its private opinions?

Everyone Sylvie encountered seemed to sense that she was wearing death, so they gave her a wide berth.

What gave her the luxury of being impossibly choosy was Pip. Over and over, she’d made it clear: Pip was the only person who passed muster, the only person she loved.

“Steady on,” Fred Smith said, “you’ve gone a bit green round the gills, Miss Todd,” and Ursula had to blame it on the heat and insist on taking some fresh air on her own. She had in fact been feeling quite queasy lately. Sylvie put it down to a summer cold.

he was no match for the bland and vacuous docility Lyra could command when she wanted to;