Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)

by Leigh Bardugo

“You move forward, and when you falter, you get up. And when you can’t, you let us carry you. You let me carry you.”

But Ana Kuya used to tell me that hope was tricky like water. Somehow it always found a way in.

“But no matter who or what I was, I would have been yours.”

“I wanted more for you,” he said. “A white veil in your hair. Vows we could keep.”

“You are all I’ve ever wanted,” he said. “You are the whole of my heart.”

“Save them, Alina. Don’t let me live knowing I might have stopped this.” “Mal—” “Save them. This once, let me carry you.” His gaze locked on mine. “End this,” he said.

The names they gave were false ones, though the vows they made were true.

He would kiss her neck and whisper new names in her ear: beauty, beloved, cherished, my heart.

They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that.