Jess

“Hayden bites his lower lip white. When he lets go, the pain of his capillaries reopening is exquisite, plush warmth flooding his mouth. Unintentionally, Horatio lingers too long, presses into Hayden's mouth with exploratory curiosity, and Hayden's eyes snap open, a low moan dislodging from his throat. Horatio? he thinks, and even in his mind his voice is edged roughly, hoarse from lack of breath and Horatio wants... He wants. He doesn't have the words for what he wants, but Hayden's mouth is parted and inviting, and he doesn't shudder away when Horatio pushes deeper, traces a sharp line across the sensitive skin of his inner lip, works at the clench of his jaw until his mouth is loose and open and spit-slicked with his own want.”
― Em X. Liu, The Death I Gave Him

“Being unexpectedly loved is so wonderful or terrible, isn’t it?”
― Tamsyn Muir, Nona the Ninth

“If you can't do this for yourself, Horatio says, only to Hayden now, his words threading through the strands of grey matter in Hayden's brain, it's okay to use me. I love you, and I'm going to give you something to live for.”
― Em X. Liu, The Death I Gave Him

“Camilla, we did it right, didn't we?" Palamedes said, and now Nona knew he wasn't speaking to anyone else in the universe. "We had something very nearly perfect... the perfect friendship, the perfect love. I cannot imagine reaching the end of this life and having any regrets, so long as I had been allowed to experience being your adept.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Nona the Ninth