Rai (is hard to please) > Recent Status Updates

“Which appeared to be his forever curse: anything done for good, he could only fulfill with great evil.”

“You are . . . all . . . monsters,” Valexa gasped through the king’s grip, her eyes full of determined fire, it seemed, until the very end.
“Perhaps,” the king replied, “but even the sun casts shadows.”

“Do not doubt the right of this wrong.”

“A moment of ecstasy for a lifetime of regret. A young girl’s fantasy: that she was the one exception to a monster’s loveless heart.”

“But her hope felt fleeting, a fish believing it was the hunter to the dangling worm. Not the hunted. Not the caught.”

“No one survived in this world by remaining pure of heart. There was a reason the worst of the worst sat on thrones, controlled cities and men—because they were the ones willing to do what others could not stomach.”

“In this world you had to be deadlier than the deadliest one in the room.”

(…) “The soles of his shoes.
For it was the only type of soul this man had.”

“Be sure to spend those full moons recklessly. Youth is meant to be spoiled.”

“After all, monsters were needed to make heroes.
And Alōs Ezra would become the kind of monster who made heroes of all.”

“The most dazzling things were fatal.
And these three truly sparkled.”

This bitch better not be a prince

“She was now like her magic: present and powerful and deliciously alive.”

“Those masks of mine, there are many. Some even I have yet to discover.”
“I look forward to getting to know them all, so long as each remains in love with me when worn.”

“Currently, however, she was happy to savor the Now, under the bright sun of a new home, wrapped in the arms of a man who saw and accepted all of her, even the parts not yet born.”

This last chapter is so sweet it’s making my teeth ache.

“I love you,” he repeated. “Foolishly so. Desperately, even. I do not want you to leave. In fact, I may kidnap you if you try.”

“I feel endless with you.”

“Still, aren’t you curious—”
“I’ll leave the curiosity to you, my love, for you have more than enough to get the both of us into trouble.”

“I trust you, Larkyra.” He brushed his lips gently across hers. “You will not hurt me.”

Loving the subversion of gender roles here

“With you, I wanted to let you in beyond my wall, my defenses. You make me feel strong even with the door wide open.”

“The road to anything truly worth having is often steep, but think of the view when you get there.”

“If things do not go the way first planned, then perhaps the deviated path is the one always meant to be taken.”

“Oftentimes, masks are more identifiable than the skin or scales beneath.”

“I see someone brave who has fought to shield his people from the worst sort of monster: the belief that they are unloved.”

“We are exactly how we need to be.”
“Odd?”
“Only as odd as a closed mind makes us.”

“That lost child of his past was threaded too tightly into his present, into the person he was today. Darius feared what would happen if he were set free.”

“The propriety of something should have no bearing on its value. In fact, most improper topics contain more important conversations than proper ones.”

“May I ask you something?”
“Always.”

“It was a past that felt like a forgotten dream, a different child’s memory.”

“What of his memories of waking with cuts and wounds along his skin? The pain . . . the pain always grounded him in reality.”
KOA all over again ;(

“They’ve left us this forever jewel,
The remaining pulse of warmth
worth living.”

“We cannot have you believing you are a beast forever. Even snakes shed their skin.”
“And remain snakes,” pointed out Larkyra.
“Yes, but they grow,” said Arabessa. “And so must you.”

“He had given her his light and remained in the dark.”

“I only bite if I’m not served dessert.”

This icky old man better not be feeding from his own stepson to get high…

“Arabessa could murder, and I’d never tell.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Arabessa stood. “You would never know if I murdered in the first place.”
“I wouldn’t?” asked Larkyra.
“Have you yet?”

I have a sneaking suspicion Arabessa is gonna be my fav.

“As if the person who inhabited this dwelling had a tendency to plop down at random just as quickly as they found something else of interest to tear them away. One body fighting with two minds.”

So… what’s my excuse 💀

“Whispers are just as loud as screams.”

“Darius only knew that nothing pleased a clever thing more than outsmarting itself.”