The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles, #1)

by Mary E. Pearson

knowing that soon the day would cleave in two, forever creating the before and after of my life, and it would happen in one swift act that I could no more alter than the color of my eyes.

in one swift act that could never be undone, an act that ended a thousand dreams but gave birth to one,

Pauline was resourceful, but I knew she wasn’t fearless, and that made her courage today far greater than mine. She had everything to lose by what we had done. I had everything to gain.

little exaggeration was always expected when describing weapons, victories, and body parts.

But maybe that didn’t make it any less true. Maybe there were a hundred different ways to fall in love.

It can take years to mold a dream. It takes only a fraction of a second for it to be shattered.

I understood monuments now. Some were built of stone and sweat, and others were built of dreams, but they were all made of the things we didn’t want to forget.

“A cunning liar who relies on the word of another? I suppose I should appreciate the colossal irony.”

Something that couldn’t quite be hidden, whether good or bad. Something that swept into you as light as a feather or maybe sat in your gut like a heavy rock, but you knew it was there either way.

“The truths of the world wish to be known, but they won’t force themselves upon you the way lies will. They’ll court you, whisper to you, play behind your eyelids, slip inside and warm your blood, dance along your spine and caress your neck until your flesh rises in bumps.”