➳ The Archer ➳

“It's all prickles and spines and anger, covered in pretty, useless blossoms and fruit too bitter to eat. There is nothing in it worth loving."
"How wrong you are."
Zoya's gaze snapped to his, her eyes flashing silver- dragon's eyes. "Am I?"
"Look at the way it grows, protecting everything within these walls, stronger than anything else in the garden, weathering every season. No matter the winter it endures, it blooms again and again."
"What if the winter is just too long and hard? What if it can't bloom again?"
He was afraid to reach for her, but he did it anyway. He took her gloved hand in his. She didn't pull away but folded in to him like a flower closing its petals at nightfall. He wrapped his arm around her. Zoya seemed to hesitate, and then with a soft breath, she let herself lean against him. Zoya the deadly. Zoya the ferocious. The weight of her against him like a benediction. He had been strong for his country, his soldiers, his friends. It meant something different to be strong for her.
"Then you'll be branches without blossom," he whispered against her hair. "And you'll let the rest of us be strong until the summer comes."
"It wasn't a metaphor."
"Of course it wasn't.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“
You are strong enough to survive the fall. They were plummeting toward the sea. Zoya felt Genya’s arms around her, Liliyana holding her tight. She felt Nikolai’s presence beside her and Juris’ sword in her hands.
With a wild, gasping breath, she felt her wings unfurl.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“Who enforces the laws?" Zoya asked softly. "Rich men. Rich men who do what they wish. Power doesn't make a man wise."
"I'm proof enough of that."
"You're occasionally a useless podge. But you're a good man, Nikolai, and a good king.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“He had wanted her for so long that it seemed impossible he should actually have her beside him every day, that he might lay down beside her every night. Not impossible, he supposed. Just improbable.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves