Sevro au Barca Quotes

"We are the new age. The new world. And if we’re to show the way, then we better damn well make it a better one. I am Sevro au Barca. And I am no longer afraid."

"I mean, gotta stop the cycle somewhere. Sucks, but dad’s gone. No sense burning down the world to try and bring him back. You know? Cassius didn’t kill dad because he hated him. They were both soldiers doing what soldiers do."

"My knees?” Sevro smiles wickedly. A mad gleam in his eye. “Stupid Gold. You forgot Howler rule number one. Never bow."

"I’ll wager Aja’s razor against Apollonius’s helm that my wee monster beats the piss out of your boy."

"Sevro watches Dancer’s wool toga billow in the wind as he boards his shuttle. “I liked the bastard better in armor."

"That doesn’t look anything like me. You look like a bloody saint plowed an angel and out you popped. I look like a deranged fucking mutant that eats babies."

"Tomorrow you scrub the latrines in every bathroom. Starting with mine. Real shame for you because curry is on the menu tonight.” He bends down. “You sad because you ain’t with a Drachenjäger squad? A mechman? Please, we eat those little bitches for breakfast. You’re lucky to be in our glorious presence.” He leans in even closer. “You want respect? Earn it."

"My girls will have a da. If that’s selfish, I don’t give a shit. Let someone else be Ares."

"Unlike mortal men, Ragnar didn’t sleep. He merely waited."

"We’re Pixies. You had Atlas and you let him live. We had Lysander and we let him live. We had Apollonius and we let him live.” He snorts. “It’s like we want to lose."

"They did smell like bacon, Darrow. The Howlers. I lost them all."

"So you’re just gonna let that arrogant piece of shit waddle off to the ass-end of space,” Sevro mutters. “He shouldn’t get a happy ending."

"Here’s what. We start skinning the Raa’s toes first,” Sevro says a few hours later. Diomedes has gained consciousness, and he’s not talking yet. Sevro has one of his knives out and leans back in one of the lounge’s sofas, his voice soft as if telling a children’s story. “You always start with the digits. I have made a paring knife that will do just fine. There’s lots of nerves in the toes. The most sensitive are under the cuticles. After we flay his toesies, we’ll salt them. Then we’ll bash them, right? One by one. Then I’ll use Tickler here and we’ll work our way up."

"Honor, dipshit. The Rim and Cassius have something in common. They’re new to this war. They don’t know what we know. Honor, if it ever existed, was the first casualty."

"Couldn’t handle your brother dying in the Passage, even though those were the rules you people made. Had to pout. So big, so small. Needy little Bellona. Sad, lonely Cassius. You’re hollow, man. Can’t even stand straight without a woman inflating your spine."

"I tried to be a da. But it ain’t what Barcas do. We can be nightmares. That’s what we can do. Make the enemy scared. Goblin’s what they need. Out here. Goblin gets shit done."

"The Abomination reminded me of something I’d always known deep down, but had forgotten. Kids. Wife. Money. Fame. Victory. All that soft shit; it ain’t for me. I’m not allowed to have it. Sevro craves all that. Sevro is weak. Sevro slags up. Sevro wants the family and the peace and the quiet. That’s how the clone got me. Sevro needs. Not the Goblin. Goblin eats nails, shits fire. He can do what Sevro can’t."

"I am the kneeling son. I am the broken daughter. I am the widow and her trembling fist. I am the sum of the tyrants’ debris. I am the whipped, the bent, the broken, the enslaved. I am the meek, the gentle, the humble, and all their silent rage. By taking your voice, Gold has given me mine. I am you. I am we. I am Ares, breaker of chains."

"It’s easy to make Da shiny in death. But we forget Da was a mess of a man. More broken than any of us. That’s why he chose Athena here. Why he chose Dancer, Harmony, Darrow.” He pokes the helmet at me. “He took the broken people because he knew he could reforge them stronger."

"He was a dreamer, Da, but he wasn’t an idealist. Naw. He woulda chosen a sweeter god to play if he was. Ares is the bloody truth behind the shine of the Golds. He is the shadow of their glory, and that shadow belongs to us. It is the trauma that made us mad enough to not just go along. Da chose you all for different reasons. Dancer was a builder, like Athena here. She’s showed me what she’s done these last years—the network she’s built.” He casts her a look of unreserved admiration. “You, Darrow, he chose to be his breaker. But you’re more than that. He told me that before he died. You could be both, if only he could keep you on the right path. He died too soon, I think. Left us to our own wicked devices. We weren’t ready, but we did what we could."

"What do I say? I say give Truffle Pig her shot. She’s earned it."

"Darrow saw something in Ragnar. A latent goodness. A potential to lead. I don’t know. Whatever it was, he put his life in Ragnar’s hands long before that famous razor. It was the best bet he ever made."

"Bloody brilliant. Volga, man. I mean, awkward as a duck learning to walk at first. She came out in so much gold and jewels and stuff. But then she picked up Fá’s warsaw. Right, and I’m thinking—oh shit, she’s gonna cut her own arm off. But she chopped up Fá’s throne for like five minutes. Then I was thinking—shit, Obsidians love thrones. This is bad. But then, she said the Golds dream of being atop the hierarchy. Ragnar dreamed of breaking it. She gave this speech about how they were all stained. All dirty. So is all their loot, their slaves. Then she tore off the gold, the jewels. The jarls hated that. They love their gold and jewels. But then, man, then she cut off her valor tail. And the jarls were all like, ‘what,’ but the braves went ape. Next thing you know, the braves are ditching all their shiny shit and I’m staring at a sea of pale, bald heads. And the jarls were like, ‘shit, let’s not get beaten to death.’ So off their hair went too."

"Bloodydamn Bellona. The Man Who Killed Fear. Gods we’re gonna hear that song in all the bars when we’re fat and old."