askalaphos

“Anything can happen in the blink of an eye. Anything at all. One. Two. Three. Blink. A girl is laughing with her friends. Suddenly, a crater splits apart the earth. Through it bursts a man in an ink black chariot forged in the deepest pits of hell, drawn by stallions with hooves of steel and eyes of flame. Before anyone can shout a warning, before the girl can turn and run, those thundering hooves are upon her. Now the girl isn't laughing anymore. Instead, she's screaming. It's too late. The man has leaned out of his ink black chariot to seize her by the waist and pull her back down into that crater with him. Life as she once knew it will never be the same.”
― Meg Cabot, Abandon

“Nick? That you?” Russ. I instinctively freeze, but Nick lifts his head, a frustrated groan rising from his chest.Another voice nearby. “Who’s that—?” Oh God. Evan too. “Whoa!”At some point, we’d rotated so that my back is toward the way we’d come, and Nick is facing Russ and Evan’s disembodied voices. Thank the Lord, too,because I can duck my face into Nick’s shoulder and catch my breath instead of die of mortication in front of frat boy Evan Cooper. Evan crows. “Oh-kayyy, y’all! Sheeit...! Get it!” He’s wheezing with laughter.“Is this a good morning kiss or a good night kiss?” Russ calls, the sound of agrin all over his voice. “Are we coming or going?” “Kinda busy right now, guys.” I can’t help but feel a little thrill at the steel underneath Nick’s hoarse voice.“Oh, we can see that.” Russ laughs at his own joke while Evan says, “Sorry to interrupt, my liege! Please, proceed with thy gentle tonguing!”
― Tracy Deonn, Legendborn

“Oh, sure,” I joke, my voice trembling only slightly. His face is so close I can smell the shampoo he used this morning. See the fine lashes against his cheek. I’m scared to want him—but I want him anyway. My next words come out breathy and faint. “Damsel in distress activates your hero mode?”The passion in his voice, the breathless force of it, is enough to make me shiver. “You’re not a damsel to me, Bree. You’re a warrior. You’re strong and you’re beautiful and you’re brilliant and brave.” He presses his forehead against mine, his eyes squeezed shut, and takes a slow, ragged breath. “And I’d really like to kiss you.”
― Tracy Deonn, Legendborn

“I wish . . . I wish that I could . . . feel you better,” she said, wishing she knew a better way to say it. “I just, I can’t quite get at what I’m trying to reach. It’s like your skin is in the way. At the Academy I would slice my sample open, but obviously that’s not an option right now,” she said with a laugh.

“What else do you do when you can’t figure out what a plant does? Besides cut it open, I mean,” Tamani asked.

“Smell it,” Laurel responded automatically. “I can taste the ones that aren’t poisonous.”

“Taste?”

She looked up at Tamani, at his half smile. “No,” she said, instantly knowing what he had in mind. “No, no, no, n—”

Her words were cut off as two pollen-dusted hands cupped Laurel’s cheeks and Tamani pressed his mouth against hers, parting her lips with his own.”
― Aprilynne Pike, Illusions