“Love didn’t end all at once, no matter how much you needed it to or how inconvenient it was. You couldn’t command love to stop any more than a marriage document could order it to appear. Maybe love had to bleed away a drop at a time until your heart was numb and cold and mostly dead.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“It doesn’t matter how many universes come and go, I will always remember who we were together.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Darkness was a beautiful thing. The kiss of a shadow. A caress as soft as moonlight.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Love … It’s a nice little trick if you can find it.
We had found it.
But now I knew finding love and holding on to it were not the same thing.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Truth is as free as the air and we all have the right to breathe as deeply of it as we wish. It cannot be held back in the palm of any one man.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“This world, it breathes you in … it knows you, and then it breathes you out again, shares you.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“For with but one generation, History and truth are lost forever.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“If we spend too much time reliving the past, it gets us nowhere.”
“That’s where I am, Rafe. Nowhere.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“I left and went to the roof, where it was only me, a thousand blinking stars, and the beauty of darkness stretched to the ends of the universe, snuffing out the endless games of courts and kingdoms.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Once upon a time,
Long, long ago,
Seven stars were flung from the sky.
One to shake the mountains,
One to churn the seas,
One to choke the air,
And four to test the hearts of men.
Your hearts are to be tested now.
Open them to the truths,
For we must not just be ready
For the enemy without,
But also the enemy within.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“A prince, in the turn of a moment and a few words, was now a king.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“I understood the weight of promises, and Rafe’s strength as a king mattered more to Morrighan now, than it ever had. It mattered to me.
I stared out at the jagged line of forest, feeling the stinging irony of Rafe’s choice: To help me and the kingdom of Morrighan survive, he had been forced to cut out my heart.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“My dress?” I said in disbelief. “You still have it?”
“No, not here. It was too risky to carry around in Terravin. I was afraid someone would see it, so when I got the chance, I stuffed it behind a manger stored up in the loft. Enzo’s probably found it and thrown it out by now.”
Berdi maybe, but not Enzo. He never did any more tidying up than he had to.
“Why in the gods’ names would you keep it?” I asked.
A smile played behind his eyes. “I’m not really sure. Maybe I wanted something to burn in case I never caught up with you.” A disapproving brow shot up. “Or to strangle you with if I did.”
I suppressed a grin.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“He nodded. “You’re right. It’s probably for the best.”
Bitterness rose in my throat. I hated things being for the best. They never really were. It was a phrase that sugarcoated the leftover crumbs of our options.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“I limped forward, sidestepping Rafe’s efforts to stop me. I kept a safe distance but looked sternly at Griz. “Put your hands behind your back. Now.”
He eyed me uncertainly, but then slowly did as I instructed. “Good,” I said. “Now, after they tie you up, you must give me your word you won’t try to escape, and if Kaden should try, you must promise that you’ll strike him down.”
“How would I do that with my hands tied?” he asked.
“I don’t care how you do it. Fall on him. That should stop him. Do I have your word?”
He nodded.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“It's not an easy thing to tell the girl that you love more than life itself that you're going to marry someone else.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Were any losses worth the gains?”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“it was only me, a thousand blinking stars, and the beauty of darkness stretched to the ends of the universe, snuffing out the endless games of courts and kingdoms.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Well! I’m glad you didn’t call him a buffoon.” “Or pompous,” Pauline added. “Or ignorant,” Jeb chimed in. “Or an ass,” Kaden said. “I didn’t call him an ass.” Rafe grunted. “You may as well have.” Now”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“He was a habit in my thoughts, not any more welcome than a rash, but I'd find myself thinking of him before I even realized what I was doing. Banishing him from my thoughts was like learning to breathe in a new way. it was a conscious effort.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“I reached out and touched a tiny pink toe that peeked from Kaden’s swaddling shirt. “He’s beautiful,” I said. “How are you feeling?”
“Well enough,” she answered, rolling her eyes, “considering I just paraded my lady parts to a killer barbarian.” She sighed. “But I suppose, compared to what you’ve been through, it’s a small indignity to bear.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“I know hundreds of miles separate us. I know you have your endless duties here and I have mine in Dalbreck. But we’ve done the impossible, Lia. If we can find a way to end centuries of animosity between the kingdoms … surely … we can find a way for us.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Kaden’s and Griz’s hands were firmly tied behind their backs.
“Would you really have killed them in cold blood?” I asked.
“It’s no less than what he ordered for me.”
“Tit for tat? Is that how this soldiering stuff works?”
An annoyed hiss escaped through Rafe’s teeth. “No, I wouldn’t have killed them on the spot. I probably would have waited for Kaden to do something stupid in the heat of the moment—which he surely will—and then I would have killed him. Oh, wait, excuse me! I forgot. We’re all in good hands. Griz promised to fall on him if he got out of line. Do I have that right?”
I returned his sarcasm with a steely glare. “Next I’m going to order him to fall on you. Save your cynicism. All I needed to know was that you wouldn’t kill them in cold blood.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“She was a natural leader. This was where she needed to be. Letting her go had been the right choice, even if the decision still burned in my gut.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“Every kiss, every touch, was a promise that we both knew, I was his and he was mine, and no conspiracy or scheme of kingdoms had a fraction of the power that surged between us.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“We startled awake, alarmed by her shouting, jumping to our feet, drawing swords, looking for imminent danger.
Jeb was saying it was a false alarm, that there was nothing wrong, but Lia had somehow gotten to her feet on her own, her eyes wild, telling us we had to leave. A relieved breath hissed between my teeth and I lowered my sword. She’d only had a nightmare. I stepped toward her. “Lia, it was just a bad dream. Let me help you lie back down.”
She hobbled backward, determined, sweat glistening on her face, and her arm stretched out to keep me at a distance. “No! Get ready. We leave this morning.”
“Look at you,” I said. "You’re tottering like a drunk. You can’t ride.”
“I can and I will."
“What’s your hurry, Your Highness?” Sven asked.
She looked from me to my men. Their feet were firmly planted. They weren’t going anywhere based on her wild-eyed demands. Had she spiked another fever?
Her expression sobered. “Please, Rafe, you have to trust me on this.”
“What did you see?” I asked.
“It’s not what I saw but what I heard— Aster’s voice telling me not to tarry.”
“Didn’t she say that to you a dozen times?”
“At least,” she answered, but her stance remained determined.
All this rush over don’t tarry?
Ever since I had gathered her into my arms on that riverbank, I had been looking over my shoulder for danger. I knew it was there. But I had to weigh that uncertainty against the benefits of healing too.
I looked away, trying to think. I wasn’t sure if I was making the right decision or not, but I turned back to my men. “Pack up.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“When we lose a battle, we have to regroup and move forward again. Choose an alternate path if necessary. But if we dwell on every action we've taken, it will cripple us, and soon we'll take no action at all.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“The scrutiny was smothering. Right now it seemed that being Vendan within these outpost walls was preferable to being the impudent royal who had abandoned their precious prince at the altar.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
“I continued to shower, in no hurry to join back up with the guards who waited for me. I wondered when and if I would see Lia again. Rafe wouldn’t make it easy, especially now that he was—
I shoved my head back under the water. I hadn’t even gotten used to the idea of him being a prince, and now he was a blazing king.”
― Mary E. Pearson, quote from The Beauty of Darkness
Mary E. Pearson
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