Noelle

“Shadows replaced fog. They were in the catacombs underneath the High Temple. Ruya pushed the lid from an ossuary in front of them and placed the black tome within. Surprise and fear replaced Ruya’s homesickness. She’d underestimated Merikh.
A splitting headache hit him. The world went black. He could feel Ruya’s panic. And then the warmth of her hand on his wrist grew cold.

He could smell blood.”
― L.J. Stanton, The Dying Sun

“Maybe sometimes, time doesn’t help. It just…stretches. Widens the gap between the loss and the after.”
― Raven Kennedy, Goldfinch

“I’ve always known exactly who she is. Light and life. Love and warmth. A gleaming vibrancy that I never deserved but never would have given up. She is mine and I am hers, for all of eternity. In every life. But in this one, she has been taken from me. And it’s my fault.”
― Raven Kennedy, Goldfinch

“When my heart nearly burst with poison and killed me, I thought that was the end. I thought that was the worst thing that could ever happen. I was wrong. This—this is the worst. For the breeze to still flow and for steps to still tread, and for the world to just keep on going after she’s ended. For me to still live, while she’s dead in my arms. I don’t want it. I don’t want this life if I can’t share it with her.”
― Raven Kennedy, Goldfinch