Elena Hect

“And the continuity of endocrine response worked for everyone, Stationer or Teixcalaanlitzlim or something else: endocrine response said, in that brutal language of the flesh, This person has had their hands inside you, and you welcomed them in. Let’s do it again. Here are nice chemicals to help.”
― Arkady Martine, A Desolation Called Peace

“My hunger roused me. In the depths of the sea, I drew upon my greed, my insatiable ambition. I cried out to my shadow self, my truest self, and reached for her through her iron imprisonment. I understood now why I was called a perversion. It was unnatural for a woman to have this kind of ambition, and yet I existed. My existence was my birthright, and it would be my justification.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“While we live, the enemy shall fear us.

We are what's left.
We are what must survive.”
― Emily Tesh, Some Desperate Glory

“The flare of Arlo’s anger was a familiar thing by now.
She wanted to say something. She always wanted to say something whenever people like Malachite said such terribly rude things to her and others around her, but the words would never leave her tongue. Every time she felt them bubbling up inside her, those good intentions turned to cowardice and were swallowed once more by nerves.”
― Ashley Shuttleworth, A Dark and Hollow Star