Ness

“Henry,' he [Ellwood] said, smoke tumbling out of his mouth in tendrils, 'are you all right?'

'I'm fine.'

'Yes, I know you're fine. But are you all right?”
― Alice Winn, In Memoriam

“I would live alone for fifty years to have one day with you.”
― Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree

“Where’s the rest of it?” said Ellwood, his voice rising unpredictably.
“My,” just the word “my” would have been enough to live on, if Gaunt had ever called him that to his face.
“He never called me Sidney. Not once, in five years.” He looked up at Hayes. “What does it mean?”
“I don’t know,” said Hayes. He sat stiff and upright on the bed.
“Why didn’t he finish it?”
“I don’t know,” said Hayes.
“He knew he was going to die.”
“He thought you both would.”
“But he never called me Sidney.”
He never called him any of it. My, dearest, darling. Sidney. Ellwood leant back against the window, his throat stretching long as he looked up.
“If Gaunt had been a girl, I should have married him in an instant,” he said.”
― Alice Winn, In Memoriam

“I lack," said Laurent, "the easy mannerisms that are usually shared with," you could see him pushing the words out, "a lover."
"You lack the easy mannerisms that are usually shared with anyone," said Damen.”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince: Volume Two