These Infinite Threads Quotes

“You have no idea what I want. I have been in agony for eight months, Alizeh. Do you know how hard it’s been to pretend I don’t know you? To pretend I don’t want you? To act as if I haven’t known every inch of your body in my dreams? To learn that your heart has been entangled elsewhere? I look at you and I can’t breathe. In my mind, you are already mine.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“I hate you," he whispered.
"I hate everything about you. Your eyes. Your lips. Your smile." His words grazed her skin when he said, softly, "I find your presence insufferable.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“God, you’re so beautiful,” he said, his smile vanishing. “Even when you lie to me.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“I need you," he said roughly. "Don't run away from me."
"How can you expect me not to run from you," said Alizeh, still trying to shake off her apprehension, "when you threatened just hours ago to have my eyes sewn shut?"
He looked sharply away from her then, a muscle jumping in his jaw. "I shouldn't have said that."
"And then you threw me off a cliff," she said, her voice a bit breathless even to her own ears.
"You wouldn't stop threatening to kill me," he said angrily, turning back to face her. "I was merely trying to change the subject.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Take care, Cyrus," she chided him. "If you keep laughing like that, I'm liable to think you have a heart."
"Oh, you needn't worry," he said, his smile fading. "I most certainly don't."
The nosta went cold.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“You act as if I’m intentionally cruel. As if I’m indifferent to you.” “Aren’t you?” “No,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “Of course not.” Cyrus stared at her from where he stood, his chest heaving with barely leashed intensity. He devastated her with that look, even as he seemed planted in the ground, immovable. “Then be with me,” he said softly. “Let me worship you.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“I would marry you,” he said, stepping closer again, coming dangerously within reach. “I’d marry you tomorrow. And then I’d take you to bed. For weeks.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Your name,” he said, and closed his eyes. He nearly fell over, catching himself at the last second. “I didn’t know your name for so long, angel. I love the way it feels in my mouth.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“She saw an intensity in his stunning irises, something desperate straining against his control, and she swore in that moment she could almost feel his soul pressing against hers.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“My kingdom," he said softly. "For your hand.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“With all due offense, sire, please fuck off.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Oh, she had never feared death. No, it was life that scared her, life that scarred her. It was the slow torture of consciousness that had done its utmost to crush her.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“I need your help, sleepy boy. Can you do something for me?
"Anything.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“I hate you,” he whispered. Alizeh blinked, her heart pounding too hard in her chest. “I know.” He leaned in then, his throat working, his gaze fixed entirely on her mouth. “I hate everything about you. Your eyes. Your lips. Your smile.” His words grazed her skin when he said, softly, “I find your presence insufferable.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“He laughed a little, like he was drunk. "I do say it a lot."

"What?" she said, going briefly still.

"Your name," he said, and closed his eyes. He nearly fell over, catching himself at the last second. "I didn't know your name for so long, angel. I love the way it feels in my mouth.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“It’s my own fault,” he said, and dragged both hands down his face. “I have only myself to blame. I knew better; I knew you were dangerous. You’ve had the upper hand from the moment I laid eyes on you. I saw you and saw right away that I was in hell, and I hated you for it, because I realized even then that you would be the end of me.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Alizeh was so powerful she claimed the devil as a friend, knew the sovereign of an enemy nation as an ally.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“And I have a theory," she went on, "that if I were badly wounded, you would help me. True or false?"
He went silent.
He was silent so long Alizeh had time enough to watch a drop of dew drip off a glossy green leaf.
"True or false, Cyrus?"
She heard his uneven exhale, the raw edge to his voice when he said, irritably, "False."
The nosta flashed cold.
"Liar," she whispered.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Her heart was beating so hard she could hardly hear her own thoughts. Cyrus had looked at her many times since she'd met him, and always with varying levels of intensity, but never quite like this. Never like he wanted to fall to his knees before her.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Cyrus," she said patiently, "you can't just ask a girl to marry you and then decline to answer a single question about yourself."

"Try me.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Don't be afraid of me, angel. I won't hurt you. I'll never hurt you.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“God, you're so beautiful," he said, his smile vanishing. "Even when you lie to me.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“All for you. Do you really not see what you’ve done to me? In a matter of days you’ve stripped me down and upended my world. My hours are in disarray, my future is in chaos, and my head—my head—”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Alizeh,” he whispered. “Let me make you my queen.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“So beautiful I could hardly look at you, even in my dreams. I thought my mind had magicked you to life as an antidote to my nightmares. I never dared to believe you might exist in real life.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Cyrus had looked at her many times since she'd met him, and always with varying levels of intensity, but never quite like this. Never like he wanted to fall to his knees before her.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“He leaned in, so close that he could feel his whisper against her lips as he spoke. "Try to weaponize those eyes against me again and I will have them permanently sewn shut.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“Should you marry me, it would be in title only. I have no interest in your companionship.” The nosta went cold.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“...You've known from the first that I am yoked to a ruthless master, that in fact I sought you out under his orders, that I disrupted my life and dishonored my home and tore myself open at his behest, all for you." He swallowed. "All for you. Do you really not see what you've done to me? In a matter of days you've stripped me down and upended my world. My hours are in disarray, my future is in chaos, and my head--my head--"
He turned away and grimaced, his fists clenching, and Alizeh thought her heart might stop.
"And instead of being angry," he went on, "instead of driving you away, instead of wishing we've never met--I keep staring at that fucking cut on your neck, Alizeh, and I want to die.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads

“You have no idea what I could give you," he said, his own eyes blazing. "You have no idea what I want. I have been in agony for eight months, Alizeh. Do you know how hard it's been to pretend I don't know you? To pretend I don't want you? To act as if I haven't known every inch of your body in my dreams? To learn that your heart has been entangled elsewhere? I look at you and I can't breathe. In my mind, you are already mine.”
― Tahereh Mafi, These Infinite Threads