Micaela

“She'd never broken a bone, had surgery. But the worst damage didn't leave a mark. When Hellie died, it was as if someone had cut into Alex's chest, cracked her open like balsa wood. What if it really had been like that and she'd had to walk down the street bleeding, trying to hold her ribs together, her heart and her lungs and every part of her open to the world? Instead, the thing that had broken her had left no mark, no scar for her to point to and say, This is where I ended.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House

“I want to survive this world that keeps trying to destroy me.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House

“That was what magic did. It revealed the heart of who you'd been before life took away your belief in the possible. It gave back the world all lonely children longed for.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House

“Alex slept in Darlington's bed and dreamed that he was curled behind her on the narrow mattress.
He pulled her close, his fingers digging into her abdomen, and she could feel claws at their tips. He whispered in her ear, "I will serve you 'til the end of days."
"And love me," she said with a laugh, bold in the dream, unafraid.
But all he said was, "It is not the same.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House