Tea

“She could not help but think of her mother and how much she would have loved it, how she would have devoured every sight, every souund, every phantasmagoric scent wafting up from the volcanic fissures and meadows of drunken, chittering flowers.”
― Traci Chee, A Thousand Steps into Night

“I drag my feet on my way to you.
Way over there.
Too far away.
Skin. Thin, practically translucent.
Eyes. Sunken. Skeletal. Bruised
Tubes. Colorless and everywhere.
You. Not you.
Gone. Not gone.
Not yet.
Hand. Warm. Slack.
But still familiar.
So familiar.
I shouldn't have dragged my feet.”
― Tamara Ireland Stone, Every Last Word

“Once, at Ogawa Castle, Miuko had thought him lonely; but now, seeing him encircled by such unrepentant destruction, she understood that he could never be lonely, because he did not desire company. No, what he desired was subjugation, and that meant he would always be alone, above all others.”
― Traci Chee, A Thousand Steps into Night

“He's supposed to look regal. I helped choose the clothes, helped make him this way, and yet the effect is not lost on me.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince