Kristen Rogers

“This is how I think of us, when I remember our nights at Troy: Achilles and I beside each other, Phoinix smiling and Automedon stuttering through the punch lines of jokes, and Briseis with her secret eyes and quick, spilling laughter.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“Dora knitted her brow. "You cannot have thought of Lady Cushing's ball," she said sceptically.
"I did not," Elias said. "I thought of you, Dora. But you are here, and so here I am." Those golden eyes held hers, and a flustered heat pooled against the surface of Dora's skin. "I did not come here only to dance. I came here only to dance with you. It is quite a different thing."
The dancing began, and it was a good thing that it did—Dora was suddenly certain that she could not manage to stay still beneath those eyes for even a moment longer.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Elias stared at her. As Dora considered his face, she became convinced that there were tears there.
"Oh, bother," Dora sighed. "I am about to flout propriety, Lady Carroway. Do be kind to me, please."
She wrapped her arms around the magician tightly—and felt him crumble away against her.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“There is such a thing as evil in this world,” Elias told her quietly. “It does not help to look away from it. It does not even help, necessarily, to look at it.” His fingers brushed through her hair, and she shivered. “But sometimes, when you cannot force the world to come to its senses, you must settle only for wiping away some of the small evils in front of you.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul