Malak

“I wanted her to be formidable. Recklessly bold. Powerful despite ability."
I stare at him, taking in each word.
"I am none of those things," I whisper.
He drops my hand to brush gentle fingers beneath my chin, raising my face up towards his. "You are much more than those things."
"You overestimate me."
"No. I just see you.”
― Lauren Roberts, Reckless

“I wanted to kill you," I whisper, forcing his eyes to open. "I wanted to be your undoing. But even then, I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had."
He inches toward me, head shaking and eyes roaming as though overwhelmed by what he is seeing. "Oh, but you are my undoing. My deliverance. my downfall disguised as a deity." Another slow step. "You are my ruin.”
― Lauren Roberts, Reckless

“I may be a monster, but if you cut me, I'll bleed. And if you break my heart, Pae, you'll break me. So, if even a sliver of your soul longs for mine, I'll spend the rest of my life trying to deserve it.”
― Lauren Roberts, Reckless

“But his tone is familiar, feeling like dancing in a dark room and thumb wars under willow trees. The way the words rolled off of his tongue felt like a light flick to the tip of my nose, like calloused fingers braiding silver hair.
It felt like Kai.
Like the man behind the masks who looked at me like I was extraordinary.
I blink at the crumbling rocks crowding the path, willing my mind to wander toward anything but the words that have me wishing things were different. But I am Ordinary. I am the embodiment of the weakness he has been taught to hate.
Ordinary.”
― Lauren Roberts, Reckless