"he wanted her to be the living proof that he was worth loving."
"no way i would be able to focus on my work anymore while olinski’s and my mother’s words danced together in my head. a tango in which the roses were all thorns."
"life can be a little shit sometimes. but shit also makes great fertilizer. grow from your experiences, don't let them smother the light out of you."
"be kind to me, alaric had said. he’d been at her mercy, broken and bruised and the valerian ensuring that he had no defenses left, and that was what he’d asked of her. be kind to me."
"caring too much for objects can destroy you. only—if you care for a thing enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn’t it? and isn’t the whole point of things—beautiful things—that they connect you to some larger beauty?"
