Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

by Rebecca Yarros

Because love, at its root, is hope. Hope for tomorrow. Hope for what could be. Hope that the someone you’ve entrusted your everything to will cradle and protect it. And hope? That shit is harder to kill than a dragon.

“Touch me and I swear to the gods, I’ll cut your fucking hands off and let the quadrant sort you out in the next round of challenges, Dain Aetos.”

“Violence, indeed.”

“Secrets make for poor leverage. They die with the people who keep them.”

“If Solas comes near you again, he knows I will devour his human whole and let him rot within me while his heart still beats, and then I’ll take the eye I so graciously left him.”

“You still don’t trust me, and that’s all right. I told you I’m not in this for a battle. I’m winning the damned war. I’m a fucking fool for saying this, but when haven’t I been a fool when it comes to you?”

“But I’m begging you, Violet. Don’t offer me your body unless you’re offering me everything. I want you more than I want to fuck you. I want those three little words back.”

Stories can change depending on who tells them.”

Dragons do not answer to the whims of men.

“Violence, remember it’s only the body that’s fragile. You are unbreakable.”

“I would have done the same thing you did because I’m just as reckless for you as you are for me.”

“You’re currently a prize annoyance.”

“Oh, no.” Kaori shakes his head. “I think you abuse your power in general.”

“There’s nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn’t find you, remember?”

“You want to know something true? Something real? I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time. I’m grateful my life is tied to yours because it means I won’t have to face a day without you in it. My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I’ll meet Malek at your side. It’s a damned good thing that you love me, too, because you’re stuck with me in this life and every other that could possibly follow.”

The problem with mankind is we too often find our souls to be a fair price for power.

“Less than a minute,” Xaden whispers as Sgaeyl moves toward him—toward us. “That’s how long it took for you to fall out of love with me.”

you decide to tell them what I am as punishment for the crimes I’ve committed against you, I’ll understand.”

“Regrets are truly a bitch, aren’t they?”

“You’re capable of hurting me in ways I’m not sure you’ve even begun to fathom, Violet. I might be skilled enough to land a death blow, but you alone have the power to fucking destroy me.”