Gleam (The Plated Prisoner, #3)

by Raven Kennedy

“Pain shouldn’t be the requisite of beauty.”

I don’t think gold’s your color, Commander.” “I disagree. Gold has quickly become my favorite.”

“I’m glad you’re choosing you,” he says quietly, and my lips part, like I want to swallow the rumble of his cadence. “You are?” I go completely still as he moves his hand and grips my chin, like he wants to make sure I’m paying attention. I am. “Yes, Goldfinch. Because I’m choosing you, too.”

So quickly people will turn a blind eye to the misfortunes of others. It’s the dark voice in their ear, whispering, just leave it be. Don’t get involved, lest it happen to you too.

Rissa’s cool assessment crawls over my face. “You’re looking better.” I brush a palm over my cheek that’s still slightly bruised and swollen. “Yeah,” I say simply. She never asked what happened, and I didn’t offer up the information. But she knows. Women always do.

You’re not the villain in my story.” “I am,” he says without remorse, his sharp jaw tight with tension. “But I’ll be the villain for you. Not to you.”

“I’ve wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Goldfinch. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”

“Love happens in all kinds of ways. Fast. Slow. In bits and pieces, or immediate. Filled with lust, one-sided longing, a snap realization never noticed before. Deeply. Thoroughly. Love is a whisper we didn’t hear or a sound that drums in our ears and drowns out everything else.”

There comes a point in your life when you have to choose between having regrets and the possibility of making mistakes.

“It terrifies you, doesn’t it?” I ask. “Knowing that everything you are, hinges on me.”

“You can’t cut off the strings of your puppet and still expect it to move for you.”