The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath & the Dawn, #2)

by Renée Ahdieh

“Now is easy. It’s easy to say what you want in a passing moment. That’s why a harem waits outside your door and the mother of your child won’t have you.” He strode back toward the palace. “Then what is the right answer, sayyidi? What should I have said?” Jalal called out to the sky in exasperation. “Always.”

“I thought that, if I lost myself in your arms, I might feel something again.

Had I spent a single night with you, I would never have wished for us to be parted from that day forward.”

“You’re better than beautiful.” Rahim took a careful breath. “You’re interesting. Never forget that.”

It was because they were two parts of a whole. He did not belong to her. And she did not belong to him. It was never about belonging to someone. It was about belonging together.

I woke each day and carried on with my life, but it wasn’t living; it was merely existing. I want to live. You are where I live.”

True strength isn’t about sovereignty. It’s about knowing when you need help and having the courage to accept it.”

“May I kiss you?” “Why are you asking permission?” Irsa murmured. “Doesn’t that—ruin the moment?” “No.” He smiled, but its edges wavered with a deeper meaning. “Because it’s not just a kiss.” “Why is that?” “Because when I kiss you, I want yours to be the first … and last lips I ever kiss.”

Irsa finally understood. Understood what it meant to feel at home wherever you were. To feel as though you belonged in any moment, at any place, in any time.

it was easy to be good and kind in times of plenty. The trying times were the moments that defined a man.

Love was something that did much to change a person. It brought joy as it brought suffering, and in turn brought about those moments that defined one’s character.

all things come at a cost. That every decision we make has consequences.”