Lips Like Ice Quotes

“The Prince had grown on her, romanced her, in a way, seduced her with his need, and his desire, his pain, his suffering, his desperation for one person, just one to accept him as he chose to be. And maybe it was brainwashing, and maybe it wasn't. But that wasn't reason, really, to add to his misery. Hadn’t they both been abused? Pushed into it? And taking comfort from one another in captivity was all they had, wasn't it?”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“He gives a few shuddering jerks, gasps again and then... oh, god. Ice elves can cry. The tears are cold, downright chilly against Lydia’s bare skin and she shivers as goose-bumps dance up her spine and across her scalp”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“the Prince sits up and carefully, tenderly, presses the cold tip of his nose to her forehead. Lydia shouldn’t be startled. This is probably a form of affection amid his people. But all the same, the soft brush of his cool lips against her eyebrow, the strange sensation of his nose on her skin is startling. Perhaps not because of the cultural gesture, but because of the meaning behind it. It is just shy of being romantic, an almost parent-like sign of affection.”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“Ugh," she says, and plucks it out of his hand, tosses it into the fire. It is the sort of dramatic gesture that the Prince would have used, and clearly appreciates. He grins at her, amused.”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“What power does it hold over you?" the King seethes, but his voice is now bleeding wonder.”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“—really as clever as you claim!" the voice booms. "They're barely above being capable of speech! They are just constructing tools!" "Their kind has evolved far more quickly than we anticipated," the Prince's voice cuts in. His voice is soothing, sweet, like spring water, and just as heady. "Speech, tools, advanced scientific discoveries, self-determination, rhetoric, culture, technology; they aren't much less advanced than us, now." Horrified gasps pepper the air. There are dozens of people on the other side of the curtain. Hundreds, maybe.”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“They don’t touch, though. The Prince holds himself away like an offended cat, and Lydia would laugh if his anger wasn’t so dangerous.”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“Tell me if you want me to stop," Lydia says. "If it hurts too much or you just... don’t like it.”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“But you must tell me," he goes on, voice soft. "I cannot know when you are unhappy if you do not tell me so." His large hand alights on her shaking shoulder, and the touch is so tender, so kind that Lydia screams. Actually screams and wrenches herself back, out of range. "I'm unhappy now!" "You're over-stimulated, our conversation—" "I want to go home!" Lydia cries, crawling across the covers and throwing herself against the mattress, clinging to his hands. "Let me go! Please! If you want to be kind, then let me go!”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice

“That's not my name," Lydia spits. "I am aware. But I choose not to use it." "But it's my name!" She turns back to him, horrified, tears prickling against the backs of her eyes. "You can't just... you can't." "Cannot what?" "Take that away from me!" "She is my pet," the creature says. "And I shall address her as such until such a time that I feel she has earned the use of her name back. Reward training." "When will that be?" Lydia wails before she can catch herself. She slaps her hands over her mouth and glowers in shame. "When I have deemed that she is obedient enough for that reward. In the meantime, I shall address her as pet and she shall answer to it. And she shall address me as Master." "Mas—!" she starts, and then chokes back the word. No way is she calling it that. "The hell I will!" Lydia snarls. The creature shrugs. "Very well, then. I am near enough to my Choosing Day, so she may call me her Prince. I”
― Peggy Barnett, Lips Like Ice