Karen Marie Moning

“He looked at me and I shivered. I never get enough of him. Never will. He lives. I breathe. I want. Him. Always. Fire to my ice. Ice to my fever. Later we would go to bed, and when he rose over me, dark and vast and eternal, I'd know joy. Who Knew? Much later we might fly a couple of Hunters to the moon.”

“I've learned a thing or two from Barrons: Power is sexy. It shapes my spine, infuses my beckoning hand. I have not been devastated by Barrons' death. The alchemy of grief has forged a new metal. I have been transformed. There's only one way I can make his death okay. Undo it.”

“He's trying not to laugh. I tell him I would have doomed mankind for him, and he's trying not to laugh.”

“What part of 'directly' didn't you understand?""Same part of 'play well with others' you never understand, O cantankerous one," I muttered.He laughed, surprising me [...] "I'd be a lot less cantankerous if you admitted you wanted to fuck me and we got down to it.”

“Words are easy; lies as simple as parting your lips and breathing.”

“there are three kinds of people in the world: those who don't know and don't know they don't know; those who don't know and do know they don't know; and those who know and know how much they still don't know.”

“The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were trouble.""Ditto.""I wanted to drag you between the shelves, fuck you senseless, and send you home.""If you'd done that, I never would have left.""You're still here anyway.""You don't have to sound so sour about it.""You're upsetting my entire existence.""Fine, I'll leave.""Try and I'll chain you up.”

“Who's driving this motorcycle and who's in the bloody sidecar? I don't ride in the sidecar. I don't even own a pussy bike with a sidecar.”

“Jericho Barrons just told me he loves me.”

“I close my eyes and ride the mindless bliss. It's all I can do. Be. Feel. Live.I'm Pri-ya again.I always will be with this man.”

“Who says we need the walls back up? You're roaches, we're Raid. We'll get rid of you eventually.”

“That's it. Fate is a fickle whore. We're not going. Take your clothes off and get back in my bed.”

“Keep hoping to see the light in her eyes. Even knowing it'll mean she's saying good-bye.”

“Some people wouldn't see a traitor when they looked at me. Some people would see a survivor. Call me anything you like—I sleep fine at night. But you will look at me when you say it. Or I'll get so far in your face you'll be seeing me with your eyes closed. You'll be seeing me in your nightmares. I'll scorch myself on the backs of your eyelids. Get off my back and stay off it. I'm not the woman I used to be. If you want a war with me, you'll get one. Just try me. Give me an excuse to go play in that dark place inside my head.”

“Christian : You two gonna stand there fucking each other with your eyes all night, or can we get on with it ?”

“V'lane: Are you busy tomorrow MacKayla ?Barrons: She's working on old texts with me.V'lane: Ah. Old texts. A banner day at the bookstore.Barrons: We're translating Kama Sutra...with interactive aids.”

“When Darroc returns, I know by the look in his eyes that I've chosen well. He thinks I picked black and red for him, the colors of his guard, the colors he has told me he selected for his future court. I chose black and red for the tattoos on Barrons' body. Tonight I wear my promise to him that I will make things right.”

“I stay back, because if i get close I'll have to roll him over and look in his eyes, and what if they're empty like Alina's were ? Then I'll know he's gone, like I knew she was gone, too far beyond my reach to ever hear my voice again, to hear me say, I'm sorry, Alina. I wish I'd called more often; I wish I'd heard the truth beneath our vapid sister talk; I wish I'd come to Dublin and fought beside you, or raged at you, because you were acting from fear, too, Alina, not hope at all, or you would have trusted me to help you. Or maybe just apologize, Barrons, for being too young to have my priorities reffined, like you, because I haven't suffered whatever the hell it is you suffered, and then shove you up against a wall and kiss you until you can't breathe, do what I wanted to do the first day I saw you there in your bloody damned bookstore. Disturb you like you disturbed me, make you see me, make you want me-pink me!-shatter your self-control, bring you crashing to your knees in front of me, even though I told myself I'd never want a man like you, that you were too old, too carnal, more animal than man, with one foot in the swamp and no desire to come all the way out, when the truth was that I was terrified by what you made me feel.”

“Are we, like, having a conversation?""Did you just, like, ask me for advice and listen with an open mind? If so, then yes, I would call this a conversation”

“Don't leave me, Rainbow Girl."Rainbow Girl. Was that who I was?It seemed so long ago. I smiled faintly. "Remember the skirt I wore to Mallucé's the night you told me to dress Goth?""It's upstairs in your closet. Never throw it away. It looked like a wet dream on you.”

“They'll try to kill you.""Good thing I'm hard to kill." Only one thing concerned me. "Will you?""Never. I'm the one who will always watch over you. Always be there to fuck you back to your senses when you need it, the one who will never let you die.”

“Kids. Pain in the ass. Don't know why I ever made them. Hell on relationships.”

“Pretty girl and all. Asking. Gotta love that. Stuff of heroes. Don't get the role too often.”

“Once, long ago in her world, a sunny day in spring was her favorite, but now a sunny day in winter delights her more. It is the perfect metaphor for their love.Sunshine on ice.She warms his frost. He cools her fever.”

“I don't have any idea what to wear anymore, so I tried to cover all bases.""Try skin.""Little chilly for that."We looked at each other across the coffee table.His eyes didn't say, I'd heat you up, and mine didn't say What are you waiting for? He didn't reply, Fuck if I'm making the first move, so I was careful not to say, I wish you would, because I can't, because I'm... and he didn't snap ...choking on your pride?!"As if you aren't.""Excuse me?""Really Barrons," I said drily. "I'm not the only one who didn't just not have that conversation, and you know it."There was the faint, sexy lift of his lip. "You're a piece of work, Ms. Lane.""Right back at you.”

“You may be trying to claim the woman, his eyes said, but make no mistake, she and the fucking fireplace are mine.”

“Seen runes like these before, Barrons?" Ryodan said. "No. You?" Barrons said. "New to me. Could be useful." I heard the sound of a phone taking pictures. Then I heard the sound of a phone being crushed against rock. "Are you out of your mind?" Ryodan said disbelievingly. "That was my phone." "Possibly," Jo said. "But no one records anything here." "Crush something of mine again, I'll crush your skill." "I weary of you," Jo said. "I weary of your ass, too, sidhe-seer," Ryodan growled.”

“Nobody's perfect for battling evil. It's seductive. When we find it, it's going to come at you with everything it's got." I was braced for it. I knew it would. I took a deep, slow breath, filling my lungs, squaring my shoulders. "Jericho, I feel like my whole life have been pushing me toward this moment." "That's it. Fate's a fickle whore. We're not going. Take your clothes off and get back in my bed.”

“I respect you more than that." I almost fell off the couch. I parted my hair and looked up at him, but he was no longer squatting in front of me. He'd stood and moved away. "Are we, like, having a conversation?" "Did you just, like, ask me for advice and listen with an open mind? Is so, then yes, I would call this a conversation. I can see how you might not recognize it, considering all I usually get from you is attitude and hostility-" "Oh! All I ever get from you is hostility and-" "And here we go. She's bristling and my hackles go up. Bloody hell, I feel fangs coming on.”

“Unbelievable," I heard Christian mutter behind me. "She toops them both?" I head Drustan ask. "And they permit it?" Dageus sounded baffled. I looked between V'lane and Barrons. "This isn't even about me." "You're wrong about that." Barrons reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "You know how to find me if you want me." He was walking away. "More nifty acronyms?" He was gone.”

“He will give them to my sidhe-seers," Rowena said sternly. "We will place the stones." Barrons gave her an incredulous look with the subtle arch of a brow. "In whose f*cking reality do you think that's going to happen?" "You have no business being involved." "Old woman, I don't like you," Barrons said coldly. "Be careful around me. Be very, very careful." Rowena closed her mouth, perched her glasses on her nose, and pursed her lips. I looked at V'lane. "Did you bring the fourth stone?" He looked at Barrons. "Did he bring his three?" Barrons bared his teeth at V'lane. V'lane hissed. The Keltar growled. And so it went.”

“PROS: things that make it look like I could be....5. K'Vruck poked at me mentally, then said, "Ah, there you are." (WTF????)”

“The bookstore was a wreck. That much hadn't been a dream. I began to stand and stopped, realizing there was a sheet of paper taped to my coat. Dazedly, I pulled it off. If you leave this bookstore and make me track you, I will make you regret it to the end of your days. ~ Z I began to laugh and cry at the same time. I sat, clutching the paper to my chest, elated. He was alive!.”

“Nightwindflyhighfreeeeeee.”

“We have to save the world," I reminded him. He reached for me. "The world can wait. I can't.”

“See me when you look at me.”

“Bring it on, Tinker Bell.”

“How could they let me grow up like that—happy and pink and stupid?”

“Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. Something so alien and unexpected that I'd almost burst into tears. I'd seen many things in his eyes in the time that I'd known him: lust, amusement, sympathy, mockery, caution, fury. But I had never seen this. Hope. Jericho Barrons had hope, and I was the reason for it. I would never forget his smile. It had illuminated him from the inside out.”

“A little blood never bothers me.”

“We will K‘Vruck the world.”

“And here we go. She's bristling and my hackles go up. Bloody hell, I feel fangs coming on. Tell you what, Ms. Lane," Barrons said softly, "Anytime you want to have a conversation with me, leave the myriad issues you have with wanting to fuck me every time you look at me outside my cave, come on in, and see what you find. You might like it.”

“Was that the sum total of my exsitence? I didn't get the erudition of 'I think therefore I am.' Instead I got 'I am, therefore I want to fuck Jericho Barrons.”

“When you know who I am. Let me be your man.”

“I was no longer sexually vulnerable to the death-by-sex Fae Prince. Jericho Barrons was my poison now.”

“The key to resisting Voice," Barrons instructed, "is finding that place inside you no one else can touch."You mean the sidhe-seer place?" I said, hopping like a one-legged chicken."No, a different place. All people have it. Not just sidhe-seers. We're born alone and we die alone. That place.""I don't get it.""I know. That's why you're hopping.”

“I'm not good, Mac. Never have been.'What-true confession time? my eyes tease. Don't need it.'I want what I want and I take it.'Is he warning me? What could he possibly threaten me with now?'There's nothing I can't live with. Only things I won't live without.”

“I know part of what turns me on so hard, makes me so violent with lust, is that he's dangerous. I fell for the bad guy. I'm crazy about the one who's trouble. The alpha that doesn't play well with others and doesn't take orders from anyone.”

“One day you do meet a man who kisses you and you can’t breathe around it and you realize you don’t need air. Oxygen is trivial. Desire makes life happen. Makes it matter. Makes everything worth it. Desire is life. Hunger to see the next sunrise or sunset. To touch the one you love. To try again.”

“Accept me or kill me MacKayla. But choose. Fucking Choose.”