More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“I keep blaming you for things so that I can push you away. But you’ve done nothing wrong. Not really. You’ve challenged me and pissed me off and lied, but it’s nothing I didn’t do right back. 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.”
“All my life, men have had me, but I have never had a man.”
“You, Slade. I want you.”
“I’ve wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Goldfinch. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”
“I want all of you,” he tells me, a newfound hunger in the depths of his green eyes that stirs heat beneath my skin. “Every piece, every memory, every minute, every inch. This isn’t going to be some casual dalliance. This isn’t going to be temporary. I want you soul, mind, and body. I want your trust and your thoughts. I want your past,
your present, your future. So make very certain that you want me for the right reasons. Be certain that you’re choosing this, because once you do, there’s no turning back.”
A surprised laugh escapes me. “That’s when you decided?” “Yep. No need to admit when you chose me. I know it was when you were admiring my ass outside.” My mouth pops open, cheeks going hot. “For the last time, I was not looking at your ass!” “Mm-hmm,” he replies, sounding unconvinced as he walks over to the curtain and drags it open, filling the room with the silvered light of the sun stuck behind a veil of snowdrift clouds.
“The moment that sun dips, Goldfinch, you’re mine.”
“Thank fuck.” In five long strides, he demolishes the space between us. He’s suddenly there, gripping me by the waist, hard lips fused to mine, and finally, we combust.
“When you called me by my name for the first time, all I could think was that I wanted to hear you say it while I was buried deep inside of you.”
My stomach flutters at the teasing implications. I can’t even deny the part about my ribbons, because they’re currently trying to slither up his damn legs. “Well...pretty soon, you can’t touch me,” I remind him. His warm breath skates across my cheek. “Have a little faith in me. I could have you begging again, even without touching your skin.” Great Divine.
“When you feel responsible for death...that stays with you. It sticks to the soles of your feet every time you take a step.”
“Living with the dead is harder than living with the living.”
In fact, it feels a little bit like coming home.
“Rip is being fucking cute, and it’s making me want to vomit.”
The side characters are the BEST,
“You’ve bewitched my senses, taken over my thoughts. Every time I blink, all I see is you, like you’ve seared yourself into my eyes and I’ll never close them again without envisioning you. And you know what?”
All my life, I thought sex was just...sex. A commodity to be sold, a job to perform. With Midas, sex was the only time he’d give me the touch I so desperately craved, a way for me to make him love me. But I never felt anything like this before. No one ever gave me such pleasure or made me feel so treasured, so sexy, so wanted
Soooo many epiphanies
“Gold is the epitome of wealth and power. It’s the one constant in this world that will always ensure I can get whatever I want. That people will bow down at my feet. With such unattainable riches as this, I can always have the upper hand.”
“Disobedience has consequences, Auren. I needed to cut away this disobedient disease I’ve let fester in you. This was what you led me to do,” he tells me, peeling me raw.
“Any father would be damn lucky to have you for a daughter.”
“The only monster in this castle is you.”
“You won’t just be locked in a cage anymore, Auren, I’ll lock you up in your own mind. I’ll keep you on dew and drain your magic forever until the day you die, and even then, I’ll pluck every gilded hair from your head and scrape the gold from your skin, because you are mine to use as I will.” His exhale condenses against my face, the scent of wine heavy on his breath, and I wonder how I ever thought this evil man loved me.
“Everything, Auren. I’m going to take everything.”
You say the word, and it’s done. I’d end him in a breath, in a room full of people who’d run screaming, with monarchs who’d band together against me. If you wanted me to do it, I would.
I stand before the man who has done nothing but use me, lie to me, manipulate me, threaten me, and abuse me for over ten years. I look at him, and hate looks with me.
We all have our edge, Auren. One day, you’re going to find where yours is. I found it, I want to tell him. I found my edge. The question is, did I fall, or did I fly?
I’m not a male prone to feeling panic.
You did it, Goldfinch.
That’s my girl.
