Mariam, the clown > Mariam,'s Quotes

“Spirals.... this town is contaminated with spirals.”
― Junji Ito, Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror, Vol. 1

“Love means seeing beauty in the ugly, the light in the dark, and accepting that even if the lights are off, and I can't see what's in front of me, there will be something there to guide my way.
Love means turning yourself inside out, handing yourself over to somebody else, and trusting them.. trusting them to touch you, to handle you, to bend you, but never, ever break what you give them.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“I love you, too. Promise me you'll remember that." "I promise." "Good," he says. "Because I'm about to fuck you like I don't.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“Maybe Cinderella didn’t live happily ever after. Maybe, come midnight, she wanted to run away. Maybe her price wouldn’t let her. Mine didn’t.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“Change doesn't happen overnight. There's no button that's pushed to magically alter everything. Change happens little by little. Day by day. Hour by hour.
It's the ticking of a secondhand, moving painstakingly, as it makes its way around the clock. You don't realize it until it's already over, the minute gone forever, as you're thrust right into the next one, the time still ticking away, whether you want it to or not.
Before long you have a hard time remembering the world as it once was, the person you were then, too focused on the world around you instead.
A world full of promise. A world full of excitement.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“I'm warning you. I'm not a good man, Karissa, and I never will be. So don't think you can fix me, or that I'll ever change, because I won't. I can't. You have to know, if this goes any further, if you ask me to stay, I'm not going to be able to let you walk away.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“I should kill you, I fucking wish I had it in me to do it.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“The sky isn’t the limit in my world, Karissa. There is no limit. You want it? You got it. Whatever it is.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“He's a child with a brand new toy, and I just hope he doesn't break me as soon as I'm out of the package.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“Happiness is being fucked so rough you can hardly breathe, can hardly speak, can do nothing but squeal like a pig as he nails you over and over, pushing inside of you so hard, so deep, that you can feel the man not only with your body, but also with your soul. Happiness is waking up the next morning, barely able to recall your own name, because the only one that mattered in hours was his, screamed so loud your throat is painfully raw, like the name had bled from your lips”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
― J.M. Darhower, Monster in His Eyes

“This should never have happened, Brishen. We were unimportant, you and I. We weren't supposed to mean anything to anyone."
"Woman of day," he said slowly. "You mean everything to me.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“You make a very handsome dead eel, my husband,”
“For a boiled mollusk, you wear black quite well, my wife,”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“Sleep here each day, Ildiko.” A sweet warmth suffused her.  She entangled her legs with his and hugged his arm to her waist.  “As you wish.  Just don’t steal the blankets.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“Had you crawled out from under my bed when I was a child, I would have bludgeoned you to death with my father’s mace.” Brishen”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“He allowed himself a small chuckle then.  “I will conquer kingdoms for you if you but ask it of me, Ildiko.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“She made him strong; she made him weak, and in that moment, she nearly put him on his knees. ”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“While he disliked the idea of scaring her, ignorance had killed more than its fair share of people, and he wanted her aware of the danger.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“Ildiko had been tempted more than a few times to cross her eyes and watch their reaction.
“Don’t even think about it, wife. You’ll notice half of them are sharpening or cleaning their weapons. All I need is for someone to inadvertently slice themselves open because you startled them.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“I'm serious, Brishen. Promise me you'll not get yourself killed or maimed out there."
"I can't make that promise, Ildiko, but I can swear to do my best to come back with all arms and legs attached."
She frowned. "Your head too, if you please."
Brishen laughed then. "My head too.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“Resting beside her, he seemed to Ildiko a living statue, carved from dark granite into a form of supple elegance and power. He was beautiful, and the tremor change in her perception of him robbed her lungs of air.
He opened both eyes suddenly, making her jump. Two shimmering gold coins stared at her unblinking. "Good evening, wife," he said in a voice raspy with the remnants of sleep. A closed-lip smile curved his mouth upward and deepened the tiny lines that fanned from the corners of his eyes. "You're staring. Do I have a fly on my nose?"
Fighting down a blush at being caught gawking at her own husband, Ildiko lightly tapped the tip of his nose with one finger. "I was trying to find a way to kill it without punching you in the face. Lucky for you, it flew away.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“see past the surface to the tides below. ”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“She was halfway through the book, her eyes heavy with sleep, when the bedroom door opened.  Brishen stood at the threshold, dressed down to undertunic and trousers, his feet bare and his hair damp.  He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms.  “Woman of day, you waited for me.”

Ildiko closed her book and offered him a drowsy smile.  Relief and happiness coursed through her.  “Prince of night, you’ve come back to me—your head intact.”

“I promised I’d try.”  ”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“It’ll be hard not to tease your folk sometimes.”

Brishen couldn’t imagine how she might go about such a thing.  He had no idea if the Kai and the Gauri even knew the same jokes or found the same things funny.  “What do you mean?”

He almost leapt out of his skin when Ildiko stared at him as both of her eyes drifted slowly down and over until they seemed to meet together, separated only by the elegant bridge of her nose.

“Lover of thorns and holy gods!” he yelped and clapped one hand across her eyes to shut out the sight.  “Stop that,” he ordered.

Ildiko laughed and pushed his hand away.  She laughed even harder when she caught sight of his expression.  “Wait,” she gasped on a giggle.  “I can do better.  Want to see me make one eye cross and have the other stay still?”

Brishen reared back.  “No!”  He grimaced.  “Nightmarish.  I’ll thank you to keep that particular talent to yourself, wife.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“Ildiko clutched his arm, unwilling to have him leave her side.  “I enjoy your touch, Brishen.”

The stiffness eased from his shoulders.  He gave her a wry look and pressed his palm to the pale expanse of skin just below her collarbones.  His hand rose and fell in quick time to her breathing.  “I believe you, but this tells me you fear it as well.”

She winced.  “Your teeth are so...sharp.”

“They are, but I’m not careless, wife.  And if, for some unfathomable reason, I accidently bite you, you’re welcome to bite me back.”

His attempt at humor worked, and Ildiko chuckled.  “Brishen—”  She offered him a toothy grin.  “These wouldn’t do much damage.”

He traced the line of her collarbones with the rough pads of his fingers, their dark claws a whisper of movement across her flesh.  “You have obviously never been badly bitten by a horse.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“A wash of relief poured through her, along with a kindling of hope. Her bridegroom wasn't Gauri; he wasn't even human. He was, however, congenial and gracious. She had proclaimed his appearance ghastly and his honesty handsome. Ildiko still stood by both opinions. She could have done infinitely worse. More than a few Gauri women had the misfortune to marry human men with handsome faces and ghastly souls.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“The void is vast, like the sea at night and no land in sight. I’ll be the beacon, Brishen.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“You find me ugly, don’t you?” Brishen had faced abominations on the battlefield without flinching, leapt into the thick of the fighting against creatures born from the nightmares of lesser demons. Not once had he been tempted to run away in fear. Now, his leg muscles rippled with the urge to flee. He clenched his teeth instead, prayed he wouldn’t start a war with their newest ally and answered honestly. “Hideous,” he said. “A hag of a woman.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“She was ugly; she was beautiful, and she was his. “My Ildiko,” he whispered.”
― Grace Draven, Radiance

“You might have a face to turn my hair white, but your honesty is handsome.” She”
― Grace Draven, Radiance