Shorok

“The Fate didn’t move. He didn’t let the girl go. He looked as if he never would. He continued holding her as if he could return her to life with the force of his will. His eyes were wet with blood. Red tears fell down his cheeks and onto hers. But the girl didn’t stir.”
― Stephanie Garber, The Ballad of Never After

“Would you - would you like to marry me, Kitty?' Lord Radcliffe - James - asked, voice like gravel.
She gave a helpless little laugh at the absurdity of the question - as if he did not know.
'I would,' she said. 'But first, I feel I must inform you that I come with four sisters, a badly leaking roof, and a veritable ocean of debt.'
He had started to smile now, and once begun it did not seem to stop, overtaking his whole face.
“I thank you for your honesty,’ he said cordially, and she laughed. ‘May I reassure you that I am desperate to meet your other sisters, the roof sounds charmingly rustic, and the debt does not faze me.’ He paused. ‘Of course, I understand that you will need to see my accounts before committing yourself,’ he went on, and she laughed again, loud and bright.
‘I’m sure that won’t be necessary,’ she said. ‘As long as you can promise you’re absurdly rich and you’ll pay off all my family’s debts.’
‘I am absurdly rich,’ he repeated. ‘And I will pay off all your family’s debts.’
‘Why then by all means,’ she said, grinning up at him, ‘I would indeed like to marry you.”
― Sophie Irwin, A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting

“Happy endings can be caught, but they are difficult to hold on to.”
― Stephanie Garber, The Ballad of Never After

“I do not want you dead, and I’ll kill anyone who tries.”
― Stephanie Garber, The Ballad of Never After