- final level of the labyrinth beneath the fortress -

a very plain, middle-sized room. a desk, a simple wooden bed. but standing in there for a while one notices the little golden stars hanging from the ceiling. the used looking stuffed animal on the bed. a wrapped present on the pillow. the pile of books on the desk. the book on top, small leather-bound, is open. narrow writing in black ink is visible.

"But wasn't that what every girl dreamed? That she'd wake and find herself a princess? Or blessed with magical powers and a grand destiny? Maybe there were people who lived those lives. Maybe this girl was one of them. But what about the rest of us? What about the nobodies and nothings, the invisible girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns. We learn to wring magic from the ordinary. That was how you survived when you weren't chosen, when there was no royal blood in your veins. When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway."

- Inej's thoughts in "Crooked Kingdom"