‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍ ‍* sorrow

“This,” Neil flicked his finger to indicate the two of them, “isn’t worthless.”
“There is no ‘this’. This is nothing.”
“And I am nothing,” Neil prompted. When Andrew gestured confirmation, Neil said, “And as you’ve always said, you want nothing.”
Andrew stared stone-faced back at him.”
― Nora Sakavic, The King's Men

“It sounded like a dream; it tasted like damnation.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Foxhole Court

“He was their family. They were his. They were worth every cut and bruise and scream.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“Declan stood stiff as a middle-schooler hugged by a parent in front of school, but Jordan saw his nostrils flare and his eyes go terribly bright. He blinked, blinked, blinked and then he had his usual bland expression by the time the man stepped back. 'I'm proud of you,' he told Declan. Her dauntless Declan.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Call Down the Hawk