Nerea

“A trinket can be lost,’ he answered. I suppressed the fuming reply I wanted to give. ‘It can be stolen, it can be twisted or tarnished and lose its lustre,’ he went on. ‘I want no gift that I give to you to be so transient. And so I took it from your head, where it can only look dull in comparison to your radiance, and I put it somewhere it will shine forever.’ He cupped my cheek in his hand and lifted my chin to the dark bowl of the night sky. ‘See the new constellation there?’ In the eternity of night, I saw the brand new pinpricks of light that shone in a sweeping arc. The lustre of my crown, now a fiery illumination against the darkness. ‘Just as you will never lose me, you will never lose your crown,’ he murmured, his arms wrapped tightly around me.”
― Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

“I would be Medusa, if it came to it, I resolved. If the gods held me accountable one day for the sins of someone else, if they came for me to punish a man’s actions, I would not hide away like Pasiphae. I would wear that coronet of snakes, and the world would shrink from me instead.”
― Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

“She liked listening to Nezha talk. He was so hopeful, so optimistic, and so stupid.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

“The stories of Perseus did not allow for a Medusa with a story of her own.”
― Jennifer Saint, Ariadne