Alwyn Hamilton Quotes & Sayings

I promised them that if they got my son out, I would show this city how a desert girl dies. - Shira — Alwyn Hamilton

The truth is I had no idea what I was doing when it came to you, Amani. I tried to leave you in Dustwalk because I didn't want to drag you into my brother's war. I came back for you because I didn't want to see you die at the hands of my other brother. But either way, I was bound to wind up doing one or the other. Just depended on which one." His hand came up like he was going to reach for me but dropped to his side instead. "I was glad in Sazi when I saw you'd gone because it meant you'd escaped on your own path, and I was glad when you took the compass because it gave me a reason to go after you. And yes, I lied to keep you out of Izman because I was afraid someone would know what you were and you'd get snapped up and sold to the Sultan. And I steered you toward Dassama figuring there was a chance I might be able to deliver you to the sea and get you out of this country before it killed you. — Alwyn Hamilton

It was damn hard to trust a boy with a smile like that. — Alwyn Hamilton

She moved like a storm someone had given steel to. — Alwyn Hamilton

But then, this was what the desert did to us. It made us dreamers with weapons. — Alwyn Hamilton

I didn't make you come here." Jin's eyes bored into mine, but I wasn't backing down. He said I had traitor eyes. Let him see the betrayal there. Let him drown in it. "I didn't trick you and I didn't ask you to. — Alwyn Hamilton

So that's what Ayet wanted scissors for. - Shira — Alwyn Hamilton

If she couldn't carve out a place for herself in Izman, what hope was I going to have? — Alwyn Hamilton

What would I possibly know - I've only been stationed in the mountains of Iliaz for half a decade. I only heard Rocs screaming every night while you were still sleeping in the harem by your mother. But you know better, I'm sure. — Alwyn Hamilton

She turned to Jin now, sprawled by the fire, his hat pulled over his eyes. "I can tell you're awake. Are you coming with us?" He sighed, tipping his hat backward. "Yeah, yeah. Just trying to get some sleep before going to near certain death. — Alwyn Hamilton

Being born doesn't make a single soul important. But you were important when I met you, that girl who dressed as a boy, who taught herself to shoot true, who dreamed and saved and wanted so badly. That girl was someone who had made herself matter. She was someone I liked. What the hell has happened since you came here that she is so worthless to you? What's happened that only my brother's approval and some power you never needed before can make you important? That's why I didn't want to bring you into this revolution, Amani. Because I didn't want to watch the Blue-Eyed Bandit get unmade by a prince without a kingdom. — Alwyn Hamilton

What else was I meant to do? Leave you to die?"
"You might've."
"I wouldn't have. — Alwyn Hamilton

It was a bad idea to play chicken with someone who'd known you your whole life. Nobody came out a winner. — Alwyn Hamilton

So are you planning on stealing all our guns, or do you think maybe you only need one per hand? - Ahmed — Alwyn Hamilton

For a second it looked like a mortal horse. The next it was pure sand. Shifting from bright gold to violent red, fire and sun in a windswept desert. — Alwyn Hamilton

Jin always smiled at me like we were both about to be in big trouble and he loved it. The prince smiled like he was forgiving you for it. — Alwyn Hamilton

You're outnumbered.' That had never mattered much to me before. 'Drop the gun, Bandit.' Malik sneered.
'There's only one man who gets to call me that,' I said. 'And you're not near as good-looking as him. — Alwyn Hamilton

My mother had raised me on a thousand stories of girls who were saved by the Djinn, princesses rescued from towers, peasant girls rescued from poverty.
Turned out, stories were just stories.
I was on my own. — Alwyn Hamilton

I wouldn't point fingers if I were you. You know what they say: those who point fingers wind up with them broken so badly they point straight back at them. - Shazad — Alwyn Hamilton

Amani." My eyes flew open. Jin was standing in the gates to Fahali. His face cleared as he saw me, and he ran toward me, relief written all over him. "Thank God."
"You don't believe in God," I said. It came out half a croak just as he closed the last of the space between us with a kiss. — Alwyn Hamilton

I was a desert girl. I thought I knew heat. I was wrong. — Alwyn Hamilton

You always want something. - Bahadur — Alwyn Hamilton

You can go to civilisation or go to hell, for all I care.' And it felt like the sand was stretching around my feet until that was all there was in the world, until Izman crept further and further away. 'I'm not leaving him for dead. — Alwyn Hamilton

My aunt Safiyah might be blood, but Jin I knew. And I didn't want to leave him. He made the world bigger. I wanted to go to the countries he'd been to. And more than anything I wanted him to ask me to go with him. But we were running out of time together. — Alwyn Hamilton

Well, in this case, your friend's finest clothes,' Shazad said.
Friends. The simple word grabbed my attention. I'd been shedding friends since Tamid.
Shazad must've caught my hesitation. 'I have other khalats. If you don't like it,' she said quickly, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear like she was nervous, only that was impossible. — Alwyn Hamilton

We all knew the stories. Djinn who fell in love with worthy princesses and gave them all of their hearts' wishes. Pretty girls who lured Nightmares straight onto men's blades. Brave merchants' daughters who caught Buraqi and rode them to the ends of the earth.

They were drawn to us, but also vulnerable to us. We could turn them into flesh and blood. — Alwyn Hamilton

These ideas could make men shout for rebellion even when it meant they would hang for it. — Alwyn Hamilton

I don't mean to worry you and all," I said, trying to keep my voice calm, "but have you noticed that you've been shot?"
"Ah." Looking at him closer now, I could see he was clutching the counter to stay upright. "I'd almost forgotten about that. — Alwyn Hamilton

Arms around my waist caught me before I could hit the ground. "I've got you," Jin said in my ear. "Let go; I've got you. — Alwyn Hamilton

I don't mean to worry you and all... but have you noticed you've been shot?'
'Ah... I'd almost forgotten about that. — Alwyn Hamilton

Hundreds of prayer cloths were tied around rocks and stakes all the way up the mountain, but God had failed here. — Alwyn Hamilton

Like I was about to say before getting interrupted, it's a modern age. I don't need a lot of muscle to pull a trigger.'
...
'Did you just shoot someone?'
'I got us hired, if that's what you're asking. — Alwyn Hamilton

I did this to stay alive. Because you are a vicious, stupid, impotent man. - Shira, to Kadir — Alwyn Hamilton

The night was screams, and the smell of gunpodwer, and my gun snapping shut with a fresh round in the chamber. — Alwyn Hamilton

You know, I never believed in fate until I met you... then I started thinking coincidence didn't have near so cruel a sense of humor — Alwyn Hamilton

I barged through the palace, dripping a trail of blood behind me as I held the dead bird by the neck. — Alwyn Hamilton

The world makes things for each place. Fish for the sea, Rocs for the mountain skies, and girls with sun in their skin and perfect aim for a desert that doesn't let weakness live. — Alwyn Hamilton

God, I knew I was in trouble even then. I was running for my life, bleeding on your floor, and all I could think about was kissing you and damn if we got caught. — Alwyn Hamilton

Nobody had seen a Djinni in decades. Now all it took to burn down a den of sin was a girl, a foreigner and a whole mess of drunks. — Alwyn Hamilton

But if knowledge was power, then the unknown was the greatest weakness of immortal things. — Alwyn Hamilton

I seemed to still be alive. Which was unexpected. I'd feel good about it when I stopped retching my insides up. — Alwyn Hamilton

Jin had told me once there was no arguing against belief. It was a foreign language to logic. — Alwyn Hamilton

Tell me that and we'll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that's how you want your story to go and we'll write it straight across the sand. — Alwyn Hamilton

And then came that grin. I may have traitor eyes, but Jin had the sort of smile that would turn over whole empires to the enemy-that made me feel like I suddenly understood him exactly, even though I knew nothing about him. The kind that made me feel like if I was on the right side of it, we could do anything together — Alwyn Hamilton

This revolution was a legend in the making. The kind of tale that sprawled out long before me and far beyond my reach. The sort of epic that was told over and over to explain how the world was never the same after this handful of people lived and fought and won or died trying. And after it happened, the story seemed somehow inevitable. Like the world was waiting to be changed, needing to be saved, and the players in the tale were all plucked out of their lives and moved into places exactly where they needed to be, like pieces on a board, just to make this story come true. But it was wilder and more terrifying and intoxicating, and more uncertain, than I'd ever thought. And I could be part of it. If I wanted to. It was getting way too late to rip myself out of this story now, or to rip it out of me. "Where — Alwyn Hamilton

tomorrow the sun would rise on the first day of a new desert. — Alwyn Hamilton

You're right." He cut me off. "I never understood this country. I never understood why he chose to leave everything else behind and stay for this. Not until I met you."
I felt like he'd pushed me, like I was falling and I needed him to reel those words back in to keep me standing straight.
"You /are/ this country, Amani." He spoke more quietly now. "More alive than anything ought to be in this place. All fire and gunpowder, with one finger always on the trigger. — Alwyn Hamilton

I hated the quiet. I could hear my fears that much louder for it. — Alwyn Hamilton

Haven't you ever wanted something so bad that it becomes more than a want? I need to get out of this town. I need it like I need to breathe. — Alwyn Hamilton