Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)

by Leigh Bardugo

She read paperbacks too, one after the next like she was chain-smoking—romance, science fiction, old pulp fantasy. All she wanted to do was sit, unbothered in a circle of lamplight, and live someone else’s life.

“Galaxy Stern,” Darlington said, his eyes flashing gold, “I have been crying out to you from the start.”

Take then this lesson: “When faced with death, better to dance than to lie down for it.”

She’d never liked that phrase, diamond in the rough. All that meant was they had to cut you again and again to let the light in.

That was all there was in this world. No heroes or villains, just the people you’d brave the waves for, and the ones you’d let drown.

“I’m bound to you, Stern. To the woman who brought me out of hell. I will serve you ’til the end of days.”