Ari J Moreno

“You’re angry.”

“Wow. You really are good.”

“And guarded. You’ve been hurt, but you still crave connection. Understanding. So you throw yourself into risk in a calculated way. You’re a paradox: a careful daredevil.”
― Leah Raeder, Black Iris

“I am falling in love with you, Laney Keating.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.”

“Don’t say it,” I said miserably, looking away.

“Why?”

Falling for someone is like pulling a loose thread. It happens stitch by stitch. You feel whole most of the time even while the seams pop, the knots loosen, everything that holds you together coming undone. It feels incredible, this opening of yourself to the world. Not like the unraveling it is. Only afterward do you glance down at the tangle of string around your feet that used to be a person who was whole and self-contained and realize that love is not a thing that we create. It’s an undoing.

“Because you deserve better,” I whispered.”
― Leah Raeder, Black Iris

“Sisters in battle, I am shield and blade to you. As I breathe, your enemies will know no sanctuary. While I live, your cause is mine.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Wonder Woman: Warbringer

“I am wretched. Destitute.”
― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains