Nikki

“That was why he and Dez were different. They knew the rules were a lie. He was scared to be alone; she was scared to be with people. He felt like he'd fade away if he wasn't touched; she felt like she'd be smothered out of existence if she was. He'd wanted so badly to die and make all the pain end; she still did. Everyone knew pain, but some lived closer to it than others.”
― Auryn Hadley, Flawed

“I, Neri, Princess of the Sea, swear to never forget you, Prince Kai-of-the-Shore.’ I closed his hand over the trinket. ‘Now you say it back.’
Kai put his arms around me instead. ‘I won’t forget you, Neri. Never, never, ever. I promise.’
But he had. Somehow. They all had.”
― Katherine Macdonald, A Song of Sea and Shore

“I’ve missed you every day for ten years,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “And I didn’t know what it was I was missing, only I felt something inside me was lost or gone, and I didn’t know how to fill it. How could I? It was you. It was always you.”
― Katherine Macdonald, A Song of Sea and Shore

“They loved me too loud to let me go quiet.”
― Avery Collins, Bitter When He Begs