Glow of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #2)

by Penn Cole

if a man made you doubt whether his love for you would survive anything, he does not deserve you.”

“If a kiss is the reward, my Queen, I’ll get on my knees for you whenever you want.”

“A scar is a sign of survival,” I continued. “Of endurance. It’s a sign that

its bearer triumphed over what might have killed a lesser person. To show off your scars is to tell the world you’re not ashamed of what you’ve overcome. Frankly, I can’t imagine any better symbol of strength. And if Luther were my King, then I would make him swear to me he would never remove it. I would hope he wore it with pride for the rest of his life.”

Sometimes, the line between who I hated and who I had become was paper thin. Sometimes, I wasn’t even sure which side of the line I was on.

His touch was the changing of the seasons, the dead, cold grey of winter thawing and giving way to the colorful hope of spring. The promise of something new, something exquisitely alive.

“I want every breath, every laugh, every tear. Every taste of your mouth, every inch of your skin. I want to kneel at your feet, soaked in the blood of your enemies, then worship your body until you scream my name.” His hands slid to my hips and tugged me closer. “Yes, Diem, I want to serve you—in every way a man can.”

“I want to burn alive in that fire in your eyes. I want it to melt me down and forge me into the weapon you need me to be. I want to stand by your side for the rest of my life, and I don’t need you to marry me and make me a fucking king to do it.”

“Everyone says this phoenix represents dying and coming back as something new, but I disagree. I think it’s a symbol of surviving when the world burns down around us. It’s a reminder that no challenge can destroy the parts of us that truly matter. We’re not reborn in the flames. We’re revealed.”

Strange, how armor could be both a shield and a cage, keeping the arrows out while trapping the monster in.

“I would have walked into the flaming heart of the sun itself,” he shot back. “If you are suffering, nothing will keep me from coming to your aid. Least of all something as trivial as death.”

“Perhaps, for the right person, we endure the pain, because the torture of never having them at all is the more unbearable fate.”

“You are fearless. You are strong. You do not cower in the faces of gods nor kings. You are fated for greater battles than this, so you do whatever it takes, and you fight like hell.”

“The true measure of strength is not in the lives we take, but in the lives we save.