The Dream Thief Quotes

“Lia: "You've changed your mind about wanting to marry me. You're afraid I'll burn down your home. Embarrass you in front of all the other city brutes."

Zane: "I'm afraid," he said gently, "that you will burn down my heart.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“You said I was pretty, before."
"Did I?" A new laugh escaped him, mirthless. "How unoriginal. I must be the master of understatement. I think you're goddamned radiant, and you know it. Sometimes I think if I look at you too long I'll go blind, like a lunatic staring straight into the sun. No," he said in a savage undertone, and let the gown fall back to the floor. "You're not pretty.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“Under the spell of the mighty Carpathians, with the breath of her creation blowing over her heart, Amalia's Gift splintered. She was given two futures: one dark, one bright, the same mortal lover pulling her two-handed into each.
Every step she took lured her closer to the dark.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“Whats it like, to be in love? The servants speak of it when they think I can't hear. I only wonder."

Lia turned around and tossed the cushion back to the chaise lounge. She found she didn't have an answer to Mari's question. She couldn't say what she'd heard her sisters always say, It's thrilling, or It's bliss, or He makes me so happy. She raised her head and swallowed the strangeness in her throat, walking to the fireplace, to the pianoforte, pressing a finger against the honey-buffed wood.

"It is," she said at last, "the most terrible feeling in the entire world."
And she meant it.

"Yes," the girl agreed, examining her face. "I think it must be.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“He felt beyond himself. He felt for the first time in his adult life a shadow of fear in his heart--fear for her, for what he actually wanted from her--and for himself, for what he might do.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“I need to keep sharp. But when you're this damned close to me, all I think about is you. I think about your mouth, and I think about your breasts, and I think about your pink tongue and your legs wrapped around me. I think about touching you and you touching me--and then I look at you and you're giving me that look--yes, that one, just there, as if you want me to kiss you--please stop--" He exhaled on a hiss, tipping his head back against the wood and pressing two fingers to the bridge of his nose.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“Lia whispered, "I don't snore."
And the thief angled his gaze warm to hers, offering his lazy smile. "Aye, love, but if you did, I'd still treasure every one.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“I love you. Even more than gold and dreams, I love you. It seems insane you haven't realize it. You were the one who first informed me of it.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“She did what she could for him. She kissed him in return. She lost her breath and both her hearts, and finally Turned to smoke and back.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“Something inside his chest unlocked--wildly, slowly, a peculiar sort of melting. He was lost. He was the thorn and the thistle, blown upon her breeze. He felt, strangely enough, staring into her yes, like he was going to weep.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“It wasn't an itch. It was a sickness. It was poison blazing through him, thinking of her all the time, watching her, touching her, wanting and wanting and wanting until his mind went black.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“He mouthed the words to her that she could not see, and that she could not hear. It was all he dared tonight, strangers in a castle, strangers to this land, their future a great black question mark and an ending he could not foresee. He bent his lips to her ear and said without breathe:
Lia-heart. Little dragon. I love you too.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief

“We pretended to be of mud instead of stars. We pretended not to fly.”
― Shana Abe, The Dream Thief

“Lia, all that I am is what I do. I'm not meant for a tame sort of life, to dwell in bucolic splendor. I'm a city rat. I ache for it. I was made for it. And I wouldn't expect you to live as I do. I wouldn't want that for you. But its all I have to offer."
"Then--I accept."
He brought a hand to his forehead and began to laugh. "Its like being snared in a sugartrap. You wont listen.”
― Shana Abé, The Dream Thief