Amanda Hocking

“I loved him because I loved him, not because it was fate or destiny or in my blood. We had chosen each other, and that felt more powerful and more magical.”

“Every man would fall in love with their voice, their lovely appearance, but no man would ever get past that. They'd never really know the girls for who they actually were, never really love them. It would be impossible for any of the four girls to ever really fall in love and be genuinely loved in return.”

“So we know she's safe and taken care of?" Daniel asked, and she nodded. "Good. Then why don't we do something that you want to do?""Like what?""I don't know. What do you like to do?""Um...." Her stomach rumbled, since crying always made her hungry. "I like eating breakfast.""That's so weird." Daniel grinned. "Because I like making French toast.""That works out, doesn't it?”

“I could win you a goldfish.""I don't think that's be fair to the goldfish," Gemma said. "I've had about a dozen of them, and they all seem to die within days of me getting them.""Oh, yeah." Alex smiled crookedly. "I remember you making your dad bury them out in the backyard.""They were my pets, and they deserved a proper burial.""I better be careful around you." Alex stepped back from her cautiously, giving her a wide berth. "You're a goldfish mass murderer. I don't know what you're capable of.""Stop!" Gemma laughed. "I didn't kill them on purpose! I was little. I think I overfed them. Out of love, though.""That's even scarier," he teased. "Do you plan to kill me with kindness?""Maybe." She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to look menacing, making him laugh.”

“Good morning, good morning, good morning," Loki chirped, wheeling in a table covered with silver domes."What are you doing?" I asked, squinting at him. He'd pulled up the shades. I was tired a hell, and I was not happy. "I thought you two lovebirds would like breakfast," Loki said. "So I had the chef whip you up something fantastic." As he set up the table in the sitting area, he looked over at us. "Although you two are sleeping awfully far apart for newly weds.""Oh my god." I groaned and pulled the covers over my head."You know, I think you're being a dick," Tove told him as he got out of bed. "But I'm starving. So I'm willing to overlook it. This time.""A dick?" Loki pretended to be offended. "I'm merely worried about your health. If your bodies aren't used to strenous activities, like a long night of love making, you could waste away if you don't get plenty of protein and rehydrate. I'm concerned for you.""Yes we both believe that's why you're here," Tove said sarcastically and took a glass of orange juice that Loki had just poured for him."What about you princess?" Loki's gaze cut to me as he filled another glass."I'm not hungry."I sighed and sat up."Oh really?" Loki arched an eyebrow. "Does that mean that last night-""It means last night is none of your business," I snapped.”

“The only constant in life is that everything is always changing.”

“When you told me you loved me," Lily's eyes widened when she looked at Lux, "You saved the world.”

“When you mix dirt with water, the dirt doesn't get clean. The water just gets dirty.”

“I know you’ll be a good Queen, a strong, noble leader, and that’s more thanthese people deserve,” she said. “But don’t give too much. You need to keep someof yourself for you. And listen to your heart.”

“I know,” I admitted, hating that it was true. “But it is only worth losing some lives ifwe can win, otherwise the lives were lost for nothing.”

“Don’t be a hero,” I told him sternly. “Protect yourself.”

“I will make this world a better place, whether they like it or not. That’s the fun of being Queen.”

“A Queen is many things, but alone is never one of them.” Sheheld the brush, poised right above the canvas as if she meant to paint,but she didn’t. “I don’t need love or a man to complete me, andsomeday, you’ll find that’s true for yourself. Suitors will come and go,but you will remain.”

“Don’t.” I walked up to him. “If it ever comes down to asituation between me and you, save yourself. I’m not worth dyingfor.”“Princess, I-”“None of us are,” I said, looking at him seriously. “Not theQueen or any of the Markis or Marksinna. That’s a direct order fromthe Princess, and you have to follow it. Save yourself.”“I don’t understand.” Duncan’s whole face scrunched inconfusion. “But… if it’s as you wish, Princess.”“It is. Thank you,” I smiled at him and walked into the palace.”

“Im looking at you 'cause i can't look away" -Finn”

“You really do hate me, don't you? I mean, destroying someone's ice-cream cone? That's vicious."Her cheeks reddened. "I didn't see you there. Honestly." She wiped at his shirt more frantically, as if she could prevent it from staining if she rubbed hard enough."Oh, now I see your plan, and it's far more devious than I thought." Daniel smirked. "You were looking for an excuse to grope me.”

“I’m alright,” Loki assured me with a grin and stepped out into the hall, so we could have some privacy from onlookers. “What can I do for you, Princess?”“Can I cut off your head?” I asked.“Are you asking for my permission?” Loki tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow. “Because I’m going to have to say no to this one request, Princess.”“No, I mean, can I?” I asked. “As in, am I capable of it? Would you die if I did?”“Of course I would die.” Loki put one hand against the wall and leaned on it. “I’m not a bloody cockroach. What’s all this about? What are you trying to find out?”

“It's a hard life, but it's the only life we have. And sometimes-' he pointed to a bright flash of lightening, its jagged light stretching from the sky to the ground, '-it's still beautiful. Sometimes you find something that makes this all worth it. And when you do, you hang onto it for as long as you can.' He turned to me, shrugging one shoulder. 'That's the best you can do.”

“When the world started ending, everybody became a convert and wanted nothing more than to spout the virtues of whatever apocalyptic religion they had latched onto. I wasn't sure who, if any, of them were right, but my best bet for avoiding hell was avoiding death.”

“No todas las prisiones tienen rejas.”

“I don't want one night. I want all nights. I want all of you, forever.”

“Not all prisons have bars”

“You know something?" He lifted his head, and when he turned to me, he had this strange look in his eyes. Almost as if he was really seeing me for the first time. "I don't think I ever really lived until this. I've never done anything that mattered before, but now I'm fighting to save my life, and yours. And I know it sounds really cheesy and lame, but I don't think I ever really felt alive. Not until I met you.”

“Can I cut off your head?" "Are you asking for my permission?”

“You just couldn’t wait to get me naked, could you, Princess?” Loki asked tiredly. I started to pull my hand back, but he put his own hand over it, keeping it in place.“No, I—I was checking for wounds,” I stumbled. I wouldn’t meet his gaze.“I’m sure.” He moved his thumb, almost caressing my hand, until it hit my ring. “What’s that?” He tried to sit up to see it, so I lifted my hand, showing him the emerald-encrusted oval on my finger. “Is that a wedding ring?”“No, engagement.” I lowered my hand, resting it on the bed next to him. “I’m not married yet.”“I’m not too late, then.” He smiled and settled back in the bed.“Too late for what?” I asked.“To stop you, of course.” Still smiling, he closed his eyes.”

“There was something almost painful about that, the intensity of being so vulnerable and so intimate with him.”

“This is so weird. They're your brother and aunt.""No, I understand. They're your family too." Rhys said. "They loved you and raised you. That's what family is, right?”

“Triliogy”

“I knew your father. I hated him.""That surprises me your Majesty." Loki smiled broadly at her. "My father was a stone-cold jerk. That sounds like your taste exactly.”

“It seemed like you had your tongue down his throat" Finn glared at us both."Well,then,everything is exactly as it seems." Loki said glibly”

“I don't think I've ever really had a home before, not until I met you.”

“His lips brushed against mine. Delicately at first, almost testing to see if this was real.”

“Tomorrow you will belong to someone else," Finn said. "But tonight, you're with me”

“An oblique angle,” Jack said, and his bout of jealousy was quickly replaced with glee. “Ha! I told you I would work that in!”

“No, no, not this one. She's a bad egg," she'd say until she was red in the face.”

“You cannot punch Tegan in the face, you cannot punch Tegan in the face, I kept repeating over and over in my head. It had basically been my mantra since I started here, but it was getting harder and harder to uphold.”

“How did you even know I wasn't in my room?""I checked on you." Finn gave me a look like I was an idiot. "I check on you every morning.""You check on me when I'm sleeping?" I gaped at him. "Every morning?"He nodded."I didn't know that.""Why would you know that? You're sleeping," Finn pointed out.”

“I don't know why you're making the poor girl play with you," Peter said. "You're going to completely slaughter her.""Well, I am the greatest Guitar Hero player of all time," Jack said.”

“You're killing me here! You are far more dangerous than I am!”

“You can bite me if you want. I want you to.”

“You know what would be fun?Nobody wants to play Guitar Hero.But you can play the Beatles! You loved the Beatles!”

“Nothing is 'just' anything with you”

“It's not my fault everybody wants me”

“When I said it aloud, it sounded terribly creepy, which is why I had said it aloud.”

“I paused outside your door to see if you were awake, and you clearly were, so I came in." "You still can't just barge in." I crossed my arms over my chest."Would you like me to go back out and knock?" Loki gestured to the doors behind him. "Would that make you feel better?”

“You're not very good at being contemplative," Milo said. "You always sound like some bad caricature of a philosopher, like those fortune cookies with 'Confucius say' or the Nietzsche guy from Mystery Men that's always saying 'when you walk on the ground, the ground walks on you.”

“I started zipping up my pants when something occurred to me. "I'm wearing a purple thong." "You're wearing a purple thong?" Jack raised an eyebrow, but since I was drunk, I couldn't read on his emotions. I didn't know if it was an intrigued I'd-like-to-see-more eyebrow, or a disapproving you're-a-huge-slut eyebrow. "Yeah. Wanna see?”

“Sometimes it seems to me that that’s all my life has been, a series of things that I loved deeply that I could never have.”

“Don’t you have anything to stop a dragon?” Lux asked, climbing as fast as he could in the tree. “The only way to stop a dragon is to stab it through its heart!” Wick shouted back. “Get out of the tree before it comes back!”

“How could you do nothing to him, if you fought so hard?” she asked. “I’m lust and he’s wrath!” he yelled. “I’m a lover, he’s a fighter!” Virtue - A Fairy Tale”