bella ✰

“He collects my ashes himself, though this is a women's duty. He puts them in a golden urn, the finest in our camp, and turns to the watching Greeks.
'When I am dead, I charged you to mingle our ashes and bury us together.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“Priam's eyes find the other body, mine, lying on the bed. He hesitates a moment. 'That is --- your friend?'

'Philtatos,' Achilles says, sharply. Most beloved. 'Best of men, and slaughtered by your son.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“You sometimes don’t know you exist until you realize someone like you existed before.”
― George M. Johnson, All Boys Aren’t Blue

“There is no law that gods must be fair, Achilles,” Chiron said. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?”
“Perhaps,” Achilles admitted.
I listened and did not speak. Achilles’ eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know it in dark or disguise, I told myself. I would know it even in madness.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles