Gabrielle

“Do you love him?” he pressed in an even smaller voice. This time, my smile grew so wide it hurt my cheeks, and my heart fluttered painfully against my chest. “More than anyone has ever loved another, even from before time was made.”
― Gillian Eliza West, Ruin

“There are rumors that your Lantsov prince has been sighted.”

I drifted nearer, trying to keep my voice casual. “Where?”

He glanced up, his lips curling in a slight smile. “Do you like him?”

“Does it matter?”

“It’s harder when you like them. You mourn them more.”

“Tell me, Alina,” said the Darkling. “Has he claimed you yet?”

“Claimed me? Like a peninsula?”

“No blushes. No averted eyes. How you’ve changed. What about your faithful tracker? Will he sleep curled at the foot of your throne?”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“His jaw tensed as the Corporalnik finished her work. When the skin had knitted together, the Darkling dismissed her with a wave. She hovered briefly, then slipped away, fading into nothing.

“There’s something I’ve been wondering,” he said. No greeting, no preamble.

I waited.

“The night that Baghra told you what I intended, the night you fled the Little Palace, did you hesitate?”

“Yes.”

“In the days after you left, did you ever think of coming back?”

“I did,” I admitted.

“But you chose not to.”

I knew I should go. I should at least have stayed silent, but I was so weary, and it felt so easy to be here with him. “It wasn’t just what Baghra said that night. You lied to me. You deceived me. You … drew me in.” Seduced me, made me want you, made me question my own heart.

“I needed your loyalty, Alina. I needed you bound to me by more than duty or fear.” His fingers tested the flesh where his wound had been”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“I am yours if you will have me, for as long as you want me."
Her lips parted softly, dark green eyes flitting between my own. "And if I want you until the end of time?"
"Then it will still not be enough.”
― Gillian Eliza West, Ruin