Fran

“She is suddenly sure she is unwilling to pay it. Not Abertha, who has only just arrived. Not Esra, who is too alive to die. Not Salem, who loves too deeply to bleed. Not Hector, who has already bled enough. Not Rivdan and Tasheem, who have given too much, too willingly. Not Ryon, who has pulled her from the deepest trenches of herself and loved her still. Not even herself, who has only just begun to feel thawed. Renewed. Not now that she has found this family.”
― Stacey McEwan, Valley

“Stay with me,” he whispers to her. “Vow it.” This promise, in part, she can swear to. “You took my heart long ago, Ryon,” she says. “It stays with you.”
― Stacey McEwan, Valley