Moriah Page

“I envy you sometimes, she said softly. "I wish I had your faith in people's goodness." [Nahri e-Nahid]”
― S.A. Chakraborty, The Empire of Gold

“What was it like?" I ask. "Being a serpent."

He hesitates. "It was like being trapped in the dark," he says. "I was alone, and my instinct was to lash out. I was perhaps not entirely an animal, but neither was I myself. I could not reason. There was only feelings--hatred and terror and the desire to destroy."

I start to speak, but he stops me with a gesture. "And you." He looks at me, his lips curving in something that's not quite a smile; it's more and less than that. "I knew little else, but I always knew you."

And when he kisses me, I feel as though I can finally breathe again.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“My bride. My queen. My fair gazelle," he said in the barest shred of a whisper. "Cannot all three be one and the same?”
― Hafsah Faizal, We Free the Stars

“I wanted and I was weak. I desired to be loved and understood. He preyed on me. Stripped me of my defenses, exploited my weaknesses. He used me in every possible way even as I deluded myself into thinking I was in love.”
― Hafsah Faizal, We Free the Stars