In the Veins of the Drowning Quotes

“You are . . . You're one ambush after the next and I have yet to get my bearings.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“He spoke over my lips. “What I feel for you is beyond reason—beyond duty and desire. You have tipped my whole world on its side, and you are the one clear thing in the chaos.” His nose brushed the end of mine. “You. I want you.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“You have shone a light on me. You made me feel fury and terror and joy and longing. How do I curl myself back into the darkness after being so alive?”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“I called you a gnat, and I detest myself for it. I am the bug. A moth. And you are the moon. Drawing me, pulling me. But I’ll never be able to reach you without destroying myself. All I can do is pray for the day.” He gave me a pleading look. “Do you understand? I am doing my very best to keep a grip on myself, to keep my distance, but everything you do seems in service of thwarting that goal.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“All my life I’d thought being docile and obedient would give me a sort of strength, safety. But I’d made myself fragile instead.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“For awful things filled empty spaces. And it was in the darkest, deepest part of the sea that monsters were made.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Emotion etched his face. "You fill my every sense. You stalk my waking mind. You make up the entirety of my dreams.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Lay a hand on my wife and you’ll lose it.” Theodore gripped the hilt of the dagger.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“I yearned for power too. I yearned for the freedom and choice and protection it could offer.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“What I feel for you is beyond reason—beyond duty and desire. You have tipped my whole world on its side, and you are the one clear thing in the chaos.” His nose brushed the end of mine. “You. I want you.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Home. The word was a changeling, twisting its meaning from one breath to the next.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“If you are selfish”—he gave me a deep, luxurious kiss—“then I am a gluttonous, greed-riddled fiend for how badly I want you.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“I see what’s between you two. It’s barbed and messy, but there’s something there.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“You are lovely. You’re charming, and if our circumstances were different, I’d likely enjoy a meal with you, bask in your wit, but as it is your beauty and charm are like gnats that I must swat away from my eyes to keep my vision clear. Your qualities are wasted on me. They do not matter, because your purpose and power exceed them.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Right before it reached her - right before I woke - I realized: I was the women. I was the water. I was the monster.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Someday,” she whispered, as her fingers played through my damp hair, “you will have a full life. A home, if you want one. And you’ll see more than these stones and mountains and sky. And I’ll be with you when you first touch the sea. You’ll feel sand between your toes, and salt water on your tongue, and you will feel more joy than you can fathom. I promise.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“There were women—I’d seen them—who were lit from within, and when they became wives that light dampened. I did not know if it was their husbands that doused their flame, or if they themselves curled up around it, their very souls trying to protect it from extinguishing. Regardless, I had been prepared to watch myself dim. But Evander’s touch lit sparks inside me, and somehow, he coaxed the light within to burn brighter, to burn steadily.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“And the king—he doesn’t need to touch to heal flesh or to make plants flourish.” My attention snapped toward her. “I’m sorry—what?” “What?” Agatha reared back at my reaction. “Every time the king has healed me, he’s touched me.” “Oh. Well.” Agatha’s lips curled into a knowing smile. “I can’t imagine why.” I forced my eyes shut.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“You should fear the water”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“But if you are to devastate me”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Together we sank irretrievably into the sweetest”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“I couldn’t find the words to explain our interaction. “And you and Halla—you’re so lovely together. It’s your engagement party. And I have my own responsibilities to see to—” “I cannot even see her for the way you encompass me.” Emotion etched his face. “You fill my every sense. You stalk my waking mind. You make up the entirety of my dreams. I couldn’t speak to you after what Lachlan said because it shocked me—that he was right. About what I feel—”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Agatha strode toward me”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“You fall apart for the first naked woman who forces her way into your bed.” Theodore launched himself across the small distance between them. One hand gripped Lachlan’s throat”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“My care has always been dependent upon what I could provide in exchange for it. It was that way with Nemea, with Evander. With you. Agatha is the only one who has ever cared for me in earnest, and even she looked after me in exchange for compensation.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“Is it really that difficult for you to focus on our task rather than our bodies?” “Excuse me?” I craned to scowl at him over my shoulder. “What are you implying?” “Nothing,” he said”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“I was the woman. I was the water. I was the monster.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“There were women—I’d seen them—who were lit from within”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“I would have worshipped you,” he said, husky and slow. “Laid you out over my bed like a goddess on her altar and gotten on my knees before you. And when we were done, after a very long time…” He brought me tighter to his chest, and I all but melted into him. My nose brushed his chin. “… I’d thank you for tearing me to ribbons with those pretty talons of yours.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning

“empty for others and call it noble.”
― Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning