Ingrid Spera

“I'm not a good person, Meilin," he said. "But the difference between me and your little Anlai hero-I've never pretended otherwise.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire

“I was a mess of contradictions. I craved intimacy, and yet, when offered it, I found myself unworthy. I wanted affection, and yet, when someone showed me how much they cared, I shrank from that trust, as if it were a collar around my throat. I did not know what I desired anymore. I had been the one to come here late at night, to wake him from his rest, to demand his attention, and now I was the one pulling away, trying to hurt him, trying to hide from him. And still there was a part of me that long to be known, that begged him to forgive me, to understand me, to not let me push him away.”
― K.X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

“Oh,” I said quietly, putting all the pieces together at last. “You’re worried I’ll see you hurt him and think things about when you’re going to hurt me, and have you realized you’re an idiot?” His head snapped back like I had slapped him. “If you looked around in that drawer back in my room you would’ve seen enough pills to kill myself ten times over—and do you know why I’ve got them all and hoarded them so carefully? To give up and fucking do that. But now, I don’t have to, Sylas—you’ll do it for me—and until then, I am fucking on this ride. You and I, and however many hims it takes,” I said, flinging an arm out at the still-hovering Nolan. “But I’m not going anywhere. Not without you. Not from here on out.”
― Cassie Alexander, Guarded by the Nightmare

“I tried to ignore the visceral discomfort that Rose at the dragon's words. For these were qualities I desired in myself. Xiuying was benevolent and tender-hearted. Sky was noble and kind. These were traits I tried to mimic, strengths I knew that Heroes of every Legend possessed. But who was I diluting? I was not the hero of this story.”
― K.X. Song, The Night Ends with Fire