Bright Spring Quotes

“Would you come back to my villa with me?” he asked, his cheeks reddening. “Apologies. That was forward. I just…I want to repay your kindness.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Had it all been a dream? Had the pink-haired Auro merely been a hallucination born of his head injury? He hoped not.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Auro had been put here to aid the natural world, not moon over pretty strangers.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“It had lasted half a heartbeat, maybe less, but it had sent curling tendrils of warmth down Auro’s skin where this boy’s fingers had connected.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Gooseflesh burst across his arms, his chest, and a shiver ran down his spine. It frightened him, being touched.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“I’m Alexios,” he said, and Auro decided it was the most beautiful name, the most beautiful word he’d ever heard. Just the sound of it warmed him from scalp to toes.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“This allowed Auro to study him in profile, and get another look at those tiny ears, which he’d decided he quite liked, especially with thick caramel waves of hair curling around them, shining in the sunlight. Auro found he also enjoyed the gentle slope of the boy’s slender neck, the cut of his jaw, and his pointed chin. “You are staring,” he said, and Auro jumped.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“To Auro’s great surprise, the boy reached up one of his hands, weakly, and touched an errant curl that had fallen across Auro’s brow. Before losing consciousness once again, he said, “Pink.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Auro shook his head, hoping to clear it. This traveler needed help, not someone ogling him.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“but now as he sat beside this young man, he found himself painfully aware of every little thing: the slightly parted bow of the boy’s lips, the rise and fall of his chest below a creamy white tunic, the warmth that seemed to seep off his skin into the air between them.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Initially, Auro had rushed to the traveler’s side, some instinct overpowering the centuries of loneliness that had, somewhere along the way, transformed into fear—”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Gooseflesh burst across his arms, his chest, and a shiver ran down his spine. It frightened him, being touched. It had lasted half a heartbeat, maybe less, but it had sent curling tendrils of warmth down Auro’s skin where this boy’s fingers had connected.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Auro sat frozen for quite some time, processing what had just happened. If it had been a long time since he’d spoken to someone, longer still since he had touched another person, he could not even recall the last time someone had touched him.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“It’s spring, is it not?” “Afraid not, little brother,”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Open your eyes, Apricot. It was that, the name his mother called him as a boy, that pried open Auro’s eyes.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Alexios truly felt as though someone was shredding his heart, smaller and smaller ribbons of it falling on the ground at his feet. He could scarce breathe for the pain of it,”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Alexios seized Auro’s face in both hands. Auro’s fingers wrapped around his wrists, clutching at him like a lifeline.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“A fallen god, bent in half, staring at Alexios like he was the one from the heavens.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“He wanted to mark Auro as his own, to lay a claim on him that neither a curse nor the passing of seasons nor the will of gods could erase.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Sucking hard on the soft white skin of Auro’s throat, Alexios wondered if the statue of Auro would reflect the bruise he left with a shadow on the marble. He hoped it would.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“I want the statue of you to recall the feel of me, so you wake up next spring and need me once more to feel whole.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“I want—I want to still feel you when I go to sleep,” Auro whispered in a rush. “I want you to fuck me so hard I still feel the ache of you inside me when I wake up next spring.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“only in the world of stories are we ever truly free.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“It is difficult to put a name to my specific fear,” he admitted. “Let me just say this, then,” said Leofric. “Sometimes, a thing grows larger when we allow it to conceal itself in shadows.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“It was as if spending time with Alexios had worn away the protective, thorny briar that Auro had grown around his heart,”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Auro’s middle was pillowy, thickly fleshed with curves Alexios wanted to sink his teeth into. The chain belted his hips, framing Auro’s groin like a masterpiece of berries and cream, his cock and balls cradled in a thick thatch of rosy curls.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“But the look on Auro’s face… Alexios smiled, his doubts melting like the frost Auro chased away each spring.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“When Auro kissed him again, he tasted a fresh fire. “Well,” said Auro, his voice husky. “Then, why don’t we learn together?”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Their next kiss was mostly a clack of teeth through bashful, excited smiles,”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring

“Auro’s expression was quizzical; perhaps he did not expect Alexios to have this level of restraint once they were abed together. It wasn’t restraint, Alexios would have told him, had he asked. He needed this time. When Alexios was certain he would not forget a single eyelash, a single candlelit shadow playing across Auro’s skin, he carded a hand through Auro’s hair and leaned down for another soft kiss that quickly turned hungry.”
― Emmaline Strange, Bright Spring