These Hollow Vows

I can't even tell someone to have a good day without sounding like I secretly wish they'd die.

Where do you think legends begin, if not from truth?

I am not a pretty thing to be manipulated. I am darkness.

No matter how hopeless I feel, there's always a little more hope inside me. No matter how faithless I think I am, there is always something to believe in.

May you always have a star to wish on, Abriella, and a reason to believe.

Abriella, every star in that sky shines for you

I am a great thief. I can steal just about anything. But a faerie prince's heart? I wouldn't know where to start.

The thing about desperation is that it steals the right choice from our list of options.

I am shadow and darkness and stronger than the girl he sacrificed for the crown.

Easy, Princess, focus on the magic. When we’re out of here, you can go back to imagining all the ways you want my hands on you.

Curses are made of secrets and sacrifice. We will suffer as long as she pays the price.

You think I don't want to kiss you? Half the time I can't think of anything else.

You were curled in the corner of the bed, completely absorbed in that book, as if it didn’t matter that you lived this brutal existence and had only a tiny room to call your own. It didn’t matter that you had to work so hard for everything. When you were reading, you were somewhere else. You were someone else.

Where do you think legends begin, if not from truth

I don't deserve you." I thought I could make a joke of it, but tears prick my eyes. "And one day you're going to realise that.

Better to pray to deft fingers, to shadows and camouflage, than to the old gods. Better to steal than to starve.

I’m Abriella, the responsible one. The tough one. The boring one……The lonely one

I peek at him between my fingers, and just as I expected, the ass is smiling. He never smiles, but of course this most mortifying morning of my life would be the occasion of his shit-eating grins. 'I hate you.' 'Also not what you said last night.

Is it me?' My voice cracks. It's me. I'm not enough. 'Never.' 'Prove it.

I am just a broken girl to them, a bleeding trophy from another land they've conquered," I say. "they don't see me as a threat

Pick a star," he says. "Make a wish.

You can never trust a thief you have welcomed into your home.

Everything in me feels torn to pieces, and I know there will be no mending me

This is a dream.' ... He nods and rolls back his shoulders as he surveys the sky. 'A dream. One of the best I've had in years.

I arch a brow. 'The female thing?' He waves a hand. 'You know, where you say the nice things and make her feel better even though she's heartbroken and love's a bitch?' 'Oh, I... Why's that a female thing?' He grunts. 'You think I'm a good candidate for that job? I can't even tell someone to have a good day without sounding like I secretly wish they'd die.' He has a point.

Aubriella, every star in that sky shines for you.

It didn't matter that you had to work so hard for everything. When you were reading, you were somewhere else. You were someone else.

Everyone wants something from me, but nobody wants me.

I never imagined how helpless I would feel, loving a mortal. But it cuts at me, Brie. Every time I don't know where you are, every time I don't know if you're safe. I could lose you so easily. And then I woke up to the sound of her singing your name and-' He squeezes his eyes shut. 'If you die, I can't bring you back. Once you're gone I can't give you the Potion of Life.

His nostrils flare, and his eyes go dark. 'Gods above and below, you tempt me, woman.' I sigh. 'Not enough, if you're going to walk out of here.