hijab

“You are my everything, James. For as much as I struggle, as difficult as things are for me that are so simple for everyone else—I’d not trade you for any such normalcy. You are what makes me want to be a better man. I’m sorry I’ve been failing at that.”
― Kelley York, A Hymn in the Silence

“And then there was Kate Sheffield.

The bane of his existence.

And the object of his desires.

All at once.”
― Julia Quinn, The Viscount Who Loved Me

“Hua Cheng said quietly, "Your Highness, I understand your everything.

"Your courage, your despair; your kindness, your pain; your resentment, your hate; your intelligence, your foolishness.

"If I could, I would have you use me as your stepping stone, the bridge you take apart after crossing, the corpse bones you need to trample to climb up, the sinner who deserved the butchering of a million knives. But, I know you wouldn't allow it."

(...)

However, Hua Cheng only replied, "To die in battle for you is my greatest honour."

Those words were like a fatal blow. The tears in Xie Lian's eyes could no longer be restrained, and they came pouring out.

Like he was hanging on the thread of his life, he pleaded, "You said you would never leave me."

However, Hua Cheng replied, "There is no banquet in this world that doesn't come to an end."

Xie Lian bowed his head and buried it deep into his chest, his heart and throat in constricted agony, unable to speak.

Yet soon after, he heard Hua Cheng say above him, "But, I will never leave you."

Hearing this, Xie Lian's head shot up.

Hua Cheng said to him, "I will come back. Your Highness, believe me.”
― Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù, 天官赐福 [Tiān Guān Cì Fú]

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.”
A poem. One of the first I recall James reciting to me, one I could recite in my sleep because I can hear it in my head, in his voice, and the words come tumbling inelegant and hurried from my lips.”
― Kelley York, A Hymn in the Silence