Aleksander Morozova Quotes

“In this moment he was just a boy -brilliant, blessed with too much power, burdened by eternity.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“Will you say it?

"Aleksander"

His grin faded and his grey eyes seemed to flicker.

"Again."

"Aleksander”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“I want you to know my name.
The name I was given, not the title I took for myself.
Will you have it?

"Yes"

"Aleksander”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“Why did you go to her?

Because with her he was human again.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“The Darkling's gray eyes studied Mal with more interest than he'd ever shown before.
"I understand we're blood related."
Mal shrugged. "We all have relatives we don't like.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“I will tell you a story, one I used to tell to a little boy with dark hair. A silent boy who rarely laughs, who listened more closely than I realized. A boy who had a name and not a title”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“What have you come here for, Alina?”
I answered him honestly. “I wanted to see you.”
I caught the briefest glimpse of surprise before his face shuttered again. “There are two thrones on
that dais. You could see me anytime you liked.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“After a long moment, he said, "Aleksander."
A little laugh escaped me. He arched a brow, a smile tugging at his lips. "What?"
"It's just so... common." Such an ordinary name, held by kings and peasants alike.
His smile deepened and he cocked his head to the side. It almost hurt to see him this way. "Will you say it?" he asked.
"Aleksander," I whispered.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“It's my own name I'm afraid of forgetting."
"Your true name is written here," she said tapping his chest. "Tattooed on your heart. You don't let just anyone read it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“What's your favorite color?" asked Sylvi.
"I don't have one."
"How can you not have one?"
Deep blue like the True Sea. Red like the roofs of the Shu temples. The pure, buttery color of sunlight—not really yellow or gold, what would you call it? All the colors you couldn't see in the dark.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“No one knew his name to curse or extol, so I spoke it softly, beneath my breath.
“Aleksander,” I whispered. A boy’s name, given up. Almost forgotten.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“Never let them touch you. Because one touch was enough to reveal it, this gift lurking inside him. It was enough to make him less a boy than a prize.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“With the last bit of his strength, he tore his arm free and lashed out blindly, furiously, with all his terror and rage, with all the hope that had been born and died this day. Let me make a mark on this world before I leave it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“You were meant to be like me. You were meant . . . You’re nothing now.”
He dropped his hands. I saw realization strike him. He was truly alone. And he always would be.
I saw emptiness enter his eyes, felt the yawning void inside him stretch wider, and infinite wasteland. The calm left him, all that cool certainty. He cried out in his rage.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“I'm sorry we don't visit more often. There's a war on and, well, no one likes you."
The Darkling touched a hand to his chest. "You wound me."
"All in good time," said Zoya.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“So how had she bested him?
Sheer stubbornness. That pragmatic impulse that had allowed her to survive the orphanage, to endure so many years without using her power.
Something more.
He'd known the name for it once, a hundred lifetimes ago.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“He reached up and brushed his knuckles over the wetness on my cheek. The smallest smile touched his bloodstained lips. "Someone to mourn me." He dropped his hand, as if the weight were too much. "No grave," he gasped, his hand tightening on mine, "for them to desecrate."
"All right," I said. The tears came harder. There will be nothing left.
He shuddered. His eyelids drooped.
"Once more," he said. "Speak my name once more."
He was ancient, I knew that. But in this moment he was just a boy- brilliant, blessed with too much power, burdened by eternity.
"Aleksander."
His eyes fluttered shut. "Don't let me be alone," he murmured. And then he was gone.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“To him, she was always Mama, Madraya.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“Beside Ruby, the Darkling lay in his black kefta. Who had tended him? I wondered, feeling an ache rise in my throat. Who had combed his dark hair back so neatly from his forehead? Who had folded his graceful hands on his chest?”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“Human life is worth preserving. But human lives? They come and go like so much chaff, never tipping the scales."
"What a remarkable calculation," said Nikolai. "And a convenient one for a mass murderer.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“She had been Zoya’s teacher, feared and beloved, powerful beyond measure. “I watched her throw herself from a mountaintop. She sacrificed herself to stop you. Was that her martyrdom?”
The Darkling said nothing. Zoya couldn’t stop herself.
“Grigori was eaten by a bear. Elizaveta was drawn and quartered. Still, they returned. There are stories whispered in the Elbjen mountains of the Dark Mother. She crowds in when the nights grow long. She steals the heat from kitchen fires.”
“Liar.”
“Maybe. We all have stories to tell.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“Are you thinking of killing me, Zoya?"
"Yes."
"Your king wouldn't be pleased."
"I'm not going to do it," she lied. "I just enjoy thinking about it. It's soothing, like humming myself a little melody.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“For a life of the kind you and I have never known and will never know— quiet, peace, the surety of love.”
“There is nothing sure about love. Do you think love will protect you when the Fjerdans come to capture the Stormwitch?”
She didn’t. But maybe she wanted to believe there was more to life than fear and being feared.
She yanked down the shade and tapped the roof. The coach travelled on, up the cramped cart track in slow switchbacks. At last, they rattled to a stop.
“Stay here,” she said, hooking his shackles to the seat. She descended from the coach, closing the door behind her. Mal and Alina stood on the sanatorium’s stairs, but when Alina saw Zoya, she smiled and raced down the steps with arms open. Zoya blinked away an embarrassing prickle of tears. She hadn’t known how Alina might greet her, given the circumstances. She let herself be hugged. As always, Ravka’s Saint smelled of paint and pine.
“Is he in there?” Alina asked.
“He is.”
“You bring me the worst gifts.”
The tabby had returned from its sojourn and was twining through Misha’s legs. It padded over to Zoya. “Hello, Oncat,” she murmured, hefting the cat into her arms and feeling the comforting rumble of its purr.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“I'll tell you a story-
one that I used to tell a little boy with dark hair, a silent boy who rarely laughed, who listened more closely than I realized. A boy who had a name and not a title.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“People didn't turn their eyes to the heavens in search of the dark. It was the light they sought.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“So how had she bested him? Sheer stubbornness. That pragmatic impulse that had allowed her to survive the orphanage, to endure so many years without using her power.
Something more.
He’d known the name for it once, a hundred lifetimes ago.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“I want you to know my name,” he said. “The name I was given, not the title I took for myself. Will you have it, Alina?”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“Instead he sent them skittering over the field, fragile tendrils of darkness, blindly seeking the power they recognized. Like calls to like.
He released a shout as the shadows met the demon. They clung to its form.

More. Aleksander's body shook as he fought to keep his sanity. that deafening, maddening vibration traveling through his skull. His threads of shadow wrapped around the demon's body, giving strength to its limbs, banding together and binding to its form.
The creature shrieked. Aleksander felt the demon's mind, Nikolai's mind.
The monster is me...
The ghost of a thought.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“No, there was a better story here. He would become Yuri, let the boy do the talking for him, and when the time came, the monk would be his chosen one--a boy who came from nothing, endowed with great power.

They'd loved Alina's little fairy tale. They'd love this one too.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“He only wished that it wasn't winter. He wanted to turn his face to the sun and feel it warm him. The cold frightened him now. It felt like death, like the long silence of not being, without sense of time or place, only the understanding that he must hold on, that someday, there would be an end to the terrible stillness. He'd been a long time in the dark.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic