More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Lissa and I had been best friends ever since kindergarten, when our teacher had paired us together for writing lessons. Forcing five-year-olds to spell Vasilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway was beyond cruel, and we’d—or rather, I’d—responded appropriately. I’d chucked my book at our teacher and called her a fascist bastard. I hadn’t known what those words meant, but I’d known how to hit a moving target.
molnija marks. They looked like two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an X symbol. One for each Strigoi he’d killed. Above them was a twisting line, sort of like a snake, that marked him as a guardian. The promise mark.
Legends existed about psychic links between guardians and their Moroi, but the stories had never mentioned anything like this.
He still stood against the wall, looking like some sort of cowboy sentry in that ridiculous long coat of his.
My dhampir mother was Scottish—red-haired, with a ridiculous accent—and I’d been told my Moroi dad was Turkish. That genetic combination had given me skin the same color as the inside of an almond, along with what I liked to think were semi-exotic desert-princess features: big dark eyes and hair so deep brown that it usually looked black.
The hounds traveled in packs and shared a sort of psychic communication that made them particularly deadly to their prey—as did the fact that they resembled mutant wolves.
I had a standing arrangement with God: I’d agree to believe in him—barely—so long as he let me sleep in on Sundays.
Moroi were alive; Strigoi were undead. Moroi were mortal; Strigoi were immortal. Moroi were born; Strigoi were made.
old box full of the writings of the blessed and crazy St. Vladimir.
for the first time noticed scars on the sides of her forehead. Like nails had dug into them.
He was so filled with spirit that people often flocked around him, enthralled just to listen and be in his presence. So great was his spirit, the old texts say, that he could heal the sick.
shadow-kissed Anna.
You’re just going to turn around and punch her one day, aren’t you?
Likewise, it is she who comforts him when the spirit becomes too much to bear, and Satan’s darkness tries to smother him and weaken his own health and body.
they have been bound together ever since he saved her life as a child.
one who is shadow-kissed and always knows what is in h...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
I couldn’t help it. I liked flirting, I liked groups, and I liked making smartass comments in class.
He had attacked another person. Moroi never did that.
You’re repeating the party line we’ve been fed our whole lives.
We used to fight, right along with the guardians—centuries ago. Then people started getting scared and stopped. Figured it was safer to just hide. They forgot the attack spells.
running his thumbs over faint, barely there scars.
I went inside, sad that I didn’t feel the same way about him.
He was seven years older than me.
“I’ll kill her, you know. The queen,
When he touched them, the crippled walked, and the blind could see. Where he walked, flowers bloomed.
madness that touches him and not spirit,
“shadow-kissed.
shadow-kissed
Wade Voda
‘full of spirit.
I was going to get head-over-heels drunk tonight, which, while not a great way to solve my problems, would at least be really fun.
“You’ve been kissed by shadows. You’ve crossed into Death, into the other side, and returned. Do you think something like that doesn’t leave a mark on the soul? You have a greater sense of life and the
The greatest and most powerful revolutions often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows.
“It’s daytime,” I whispered. “Bad things don’t happen in the day.”
Those two were so in love and sugary sweet with each other that I felt like brushing my teeth after being around
Her future husband would probably have enough somewhere in his family tree to make sure her children were Dragomirs,
“Silver always has powerful effects on any magical
These stakes are really hard-core because it takes four different Moroi to make them, and they use each of the elements during the forging.
except s...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
the best way to take Strigoi is to come around from behind, break their necks, and then stake them.
she performed what had to be the hat trick of the century, killing Strigoi in all three ways: staking, decapitation, and setting them on fire.
I felt like he understood part of me that I didn’t understand myself, and sometimes I was pretty sure I understood parts of him that he didn’t understand either.
the dark feelings disappeared within her. As they did, I felt a weird ripple in the bond. I can’t explain what it was, but I shuddered from the force.
could make others see things that weren’t there. He could get them to believe they were seeing monsters
If he wanted to avoid me, I would have preferred he made up something about how he and the other guardians had to up Moroi security or practice top-secret ninja moves.
“Sweat isn’t a bad thing,”
“Some of the best things in life happen while sweating. Yeah, if you get too much of it and it gets old and stale, it turns pretty gross. But on a beautiful woman? Intoxicating.
“You’re one of those people who either has soul mates or mortal enemies, aren’t you?
“Young girls? Young girls? Sure. Young and old at the same time. They’ve barely seen anything in life, yet they’ve already seen too much. One’s marked with life, and one’s marked with death . . . but they’re the ones you’re worried about? Worry about yourself, dhampir. Worry about you, and worry about me. We’re the ones who are young.”
There’s nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what’ll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor.
