Gallant

by V.E. Schwab

They want you to look, but they can’t stand being seen.

“When I am dreaming, I know that I must wake. But when I wake, all I think about is dreaming.”

The girls say love, but what they really mean is want. To be wanted, beyond the walls of this house.

But what is safe? Tombs are safe. Merilance was safe. Safe does not mean happy, does not mean well, does not mean kind.

When people see tears, they stop listening to your hands or your words or anything else you have to say. And it doesn’t matter if the tears are angry or sad, frightened or frustrated. All they see is a girl crying.

Real, she is learning, is a slippery thing, not a solid black line but a shape with soft edges, a great deal of gray.

Olivia Prior does not want to die. She has only just begun to live.