Ari > Books: beloved‎ (28)

[image] Once upon a time,an angel and a devil pressed their hands to their hearts and started the apocalypse.

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a new way of living—one without massacres and torn throats and bonfires of the fallen, without revenants or bastard armies or children ripped from their mothers’ arms to take their turn in the killing and dying.

Once, the lovers lay entwined in the moon’s secret temple and dreamed of a world that was a like a jewel-box without a jewel—a paradise waiting for them to find it and fill it with their happiness.

This was not that world.”

“What would you have done if the seraphim had taken you, tortured you, and made you watch as they cut off his head?

“How, with swords clenched in both hands, could one hope to keep blood from spilling?

“Of all possible souls to survive the slaughter: her own murderrer.

[image] But she stepped forward and placed a finger to his lips and there it was before him. The greatest prayer to the gods he could muster with a heart so broken. "Don't let me outlive this woman. Don't let me exist one moment without her".

"Sure, I had pretty high expectations. [...]
But I had nowhere to go but up. Why not aim as high as possible?"

"Maybe I was being naive. Even stupid. I mean, who would trade Standford for being homeless? [...] But I had to know if I was meant to be a musician. Otherwise I'd spend the rest of my life regretting it. Asking myself... what if?"

"Do yourself a favor princess. Work it out with Mom and Dad."
"You know nothing about me or my situation."
He leaned closer. "I'll take a guess. Your parents wanted you to be someone you aren't, so you've come here to express yourself and get that butterfly tatoo you've always wanted."
"Wrong."
His eyes didn't move from mine. "Am I?"
"Completely." I shoved past him. "I hate butterflies."

"I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding"

"My goal is always going to be to get home." Home. For him, it's a place I don't belong.

"Anyone coming within a hundred yards of my happy ending had better pray that they’re immune to bullets"
~ Shaun Mason

“I guess in the end, it doesn’t matter what we wanted. What matters is what we

“I guess in the end, it doesn’t matter what we wanted. What matters is what we chose to do with the things we had.”

“I just find it interesting that kids apparently used to cry when Bambi's mother died. George and I both held our breaths, and then cheered when she didn't reanimate and try to eat her son.”

"Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last 26 years: with an idiot, in this case my brother Shaun, deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens"

"She listened to all kinds of music, even the stuff that sounds like static and church bells. She played guitar really badly, but she meant every note."

"I was nothing inside but light and color"

"I was nothing inside but light and color"

"I took a can and my brain clicked off and my hands clicked on and I escaped onto the wall, a painted ghost trapped in a jar. I stood back to look at it and I knew the sad thing wasn't that the ghost was running out of air. The sad thing was that he had enough air in that small space to last him a lifetime. What were you thinking, little ghost? Letting yourself get trapped like that?"

"There was no skin on my voice and she heard the bones in my words like I did"

"Her words are paintings, and I'm painting them on the wall in my head as she talks"

“You keep safe, Froi. Keep safe and come home to us”

[image] “Is it because we are not beautiful?” she asked.
“What?”
“That you don’t want to save us. […] In the books of the Ancients the princesses are always beautiful and they always get saved.”

[image] “If we forget who we lost then we forget who we once were, and if we forget who we once were, we lose sight of who we are now.”

“I won’t be that girl who lets the guy treat her like crap and still fawns all over him.”

“Tucker: Why would you tell me now if it’s against the rules?
Clara: Because I love you.”

Book description:

At the age of nine, Finnikin's world is shattered by the five days of the unspeakable: the royal family of Lumatere is brutally murdered, an imposter seizes the throne, and a curse binds all who remain inside the kingdom's walls. Those who escape are left to roam as exiles.

Ten years later, Finnikin and his mentor, Sir Topher, are summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young novice with a startling claim: Balthazar, the heir to the throne of Lumatere and Finnikin's childhood friend, is alive, and she can lead Finnikin to him. Even as he suspects this arrogant young woman, Finnikin also begins to believe that Lumatere might one day be raised.

[image] "Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?"