Richelle Mead

“Aw you'd never hurt me. My face is too pretty. -Adrian Ivashkov”

“You're imagining things. Clearly, my stunning beauty has clouded your mind. -Rose Hathaway”

“Adrian Ivashkov: "Rose Hathaway, I can't wait to see you again. If you're this charming while tired and annoyed and this gorgeous while bruised and in ski clothes, you must be devastating at your peak."Rose Hathaway: "If by 'devastating' you mean that you should fear for your life, then yeah. You're right.”

“I didn’t share her concern. “Damn it. I should have banished you the first time I saw you. I don’t have time for this, not with everything else. You should be in the Underworld by now. Kiyo isn’t going to kill me.”

“My skin tingled, and suddenly, Deanna materialized before us. I jumped.”

“Good can still exist when bad things happen, just as evil persists when good things happen.” - Carter to Georgina”

“All this time…ever since I sold my soul, I’ve been clinging to this idea that there is something pure and decent out there. That there was something to give me hope that even if I was a lost cause, at least there was something bright and good in the world. But there isn’t. If there was, Seth wouldn’t have fallen. Erik wouldn’t have died. Andrea Mortensen wouldn’t be dying.” -Georgina to Carter”

“Love in the real world doesn’t usually work out the way stories make us think it should. We don’t always get fairy-tale endings. People split up and move on. Just because you love someone doesn’t mean you can’t love someone else.” - Georgina to Brandy”

“I kind of like the idea of adorning women in crowns and jewels. Call me sexist, but I think the fair sex should be worshiped.” - Seth to Georgina”

“There would be no wedding for me. No bridal hopes. Not with Seth, not with anyone. Those things were lost to me forever. There was only an eternity alone, no lifelong lovers, only those I shared a night with…. - Georgina”

“It was a cream colored trapeze, sleeveless with a keyhole top that may or may not have been showing managerialappropriate cleavage." -Georgina”

“My muse is an ungrateful harlot who’s abandoned me to actually come up with my own plots.”

“Seth and I had broken up twice and while I usually accepted that he had moved on, I knew that I would love him forever. For me, forever was a serious matter" - Georgina about”

“Even when I was dizzy with vodka, that smile never failed to make my heart speed up.”

“No. If I let myself love you, I won't throw myself in front of her. I'll throw myself in front of you." - Dimitri”

“Love Fades, Mine Has.Dimitri ♥”

“Rose: "Did you hotwire this car? Did you steal this car?"Dimitri: "You have an interesting set of morals. Breaking out of jail is okay. But steal a car, and you sound totally outraged."- Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov (Last Sacrifice)”

“What's going on?" I sat down on the bed and finished the last of the scone."Bad things," she said mischievously. "You'll approve.”

“They're strong, they're fast, and the kill without mercy or hesitation. They're immortal, too-which kind of makes them a bitch to destroy.”

“I'm getting better at avoiding this, but when something sets me off, I tend to punch first and then find out who I actually his later.”

“We've had to deal with so many complications. We're still dealing with them. And what can we do? Nothing - well, unless we take your side's point of view and make deals with the devil. But why? Why can't we make deals with God? People do all the time. 'God, if you do this for me, I promise to be good.' Stuff like that.Yeah, but I don't see any contracts like you guys have. No hard evidence that it works. How come we can only get things we want by being bad? Why can't we get them by being good?”

“I think Adrian really likes you. Like, in a wanting-to-be-serious way.""Nope. He likes me in a wanting-to-get-the-clothes-off-the-cute-dhampir way.”

“Can't you ever get off for good behavior?""Sure, if I was ever good.”

“You got some cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?”

“‎She didn't understand what it was like to be filled with a love so strong that it made your chest ache—a love you could only feel and not express. Keeping love buried was a lot like keeping anger pent up, I'd learned. It just ate you up inside until you wanted to scream or kick something.”

“I´ve given up on you. Loves fades. Mine has." - Dimitri”

“I also have a feeling your mother’s going to have a very ugly conversation with me." – Dimitri”

“I was testing dorm security," I said. "It sucks." - Rose”

“Dorian used to watch you like a starving man who wants meat. Now he looks at you like he wants seconds.”

“The greatest and most powerful revolutions often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows. Remember that.”

“Come on, Hathaway," he said, taking my arm. "You can be my partner. Let’s see what you’ve been doing all this time."An hour later, he had his answer."Not practicing, huh?""Ow,” I groaned, momentarily incapable of normal speech.He extended a hand and helped me up from the mat he’d knocked me down on—about fifty times."I hate you,” I told him, rubbing a spot on my thigh that was going to have a wicked bruise tomorrow."You’d hate me more if I held back.""Yeah, that’s true," I agreed, staggering along as the class put the equipment back."You actually did okay.""What? I just had my ass handed to me.""Well, of course you did. It’s been two years. But hey, you’re still walking. That’s something." He grinned mockingly."Did I mention I hate you?”He flashed me another smile, which quickly faded to something more serious. "Don’t take this the wrong way…I mean, you really are a scrapper, but there’s no way you’ll be able to take your trials in the spring—""They’re making me take extra practice sessions," I explained. Not that it mattered. I planned on getting Lissa and me out of here before those practices really became an issue."Extra sessions with who?""That tall guy. Dimitri."Mason stopped walking and stared at me. "You’re putting in extra time with Belikov?""Yeah, so what?""So the man is a god.""Exaggerate much?" I asked."No, I’m serious. I mean, he’s all quiet and antisocial usually but when he fights...wow. If you think you’re hurting now, you’re going to be dead when he’s done with you."Great. Something else to improve my day.”

“Ten feet from the car, a man stepped directly into our path. We came to a screeching halt, and I jerked Lissa back by her arm. It was him, the guy I’d seen across the street watching me. He was older than us, maybe mid-twenties, and as tall as I’d figured, probably six-six or six-seven. And under different circumstances–say, when he wasn’t holding up our desperate escape–I would have thought he was hot. Shoulder-length brown hair, tied back in a short ponytail. Dark brown eyes. A long brown coat–a duster, I thought it was called.But his hotness was irrelevant now. He was only an obstacle keeping Lissa and me away from the car and our freedom. The footsteps behind us slowed, and I knew our pursuers had caught up. Off to the sides, I detected more movement, more people closing in. God. They’d almost sent a dozen guardians to retrieve us. I couldn’t believe it. The queen herself didn’t travel with that many.”

“Lissa and I had been friends ever since kindergarten, when our teacher had paired us up together for writing lessons. Forcing five-year-olds to spell Vasilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway was beyond cruel, and we’d—or rather, I’d—responded appropriately. I’d chucked my book at out teacher and called her a fascist bastard. I hadn’t known what those words meant, but I’d known how to hit a moving target.Lissa and I had been inseparable ever since.”

“He's hot like, the kind of hot that makes you stop walking on the street and get hit by traffic.”

“You could change the quorum law if you wanted, you sanctimonious bitch!”

“I sprang toward him with the stake, hoping to catch him by surprise. But Dimitri was hard to catch by surprise. And he was fast. Oh, so fast. It was like he knew what I was going to do before I did it. He halted my attack with a glancing blow to the side of my head. I knew it would hurt later, but my adrenaline was running too strong for me to pay attention to it now.Distantly, I realized some other people had come to watch us. Dimitri and I were celebrities in different ways around here, and our mentoring relationship added to the drama. This was prime-time entertainment.My eyes were only on Dimitri, though. As we tested each other, attacking and blocking, I tried to remember everything he'd taught me. I also tried to remember everything I knew about him. I'd practiced with him for months. I knew him, knew his moves, just as he knew mine. I could anticipate him the same way. Once I started using that knowledge, the fight grew tricky. We were too well matched, both of us too fast. My heart thumped in my chest, and sweat coated my skin.Then Dimitri finally got through. He moved in for an attack, coming at me with the full force of his body. I blocked the worst of it, but he was so strong that I was the one who stumbled from the impact. He didn't waste the opportunity and dragged me to the ground, trying to pin me. Being trapped like that by a Strigoi would likely result in the neck being bitten or broken. I couldn't let that happen.So, although he held most of me to the ground, I managed to shove my elbow up and nail him in the face. He flinched and that was all I needed. I rolled him over and held him down. He fought to push me off, and I pushed right back while also trying to maneuver my stake. He was so strong, though. I was certain I wouldn't be able to hold him. Then, just as I thought I'd lose my hold, I got a good grip on the stake. And like that, the stake came down over his heart. It was done.Behind me, people were clapping but all I noticed was Dimitri. Our gazes were locked. I was still straddling him, my hands pressed against his chest. Both of us were sweaty and breathing heavily. His eyes looked at me with pride—and hell of a lot more. He was so close and my body yearned for him, again thinking he was a piece of me I needed in order to be complete. The air between us seemed warm and heady, and I would have given anything in that moment to lie down with him and have his arms wrap around me. His expression showed that he was thinking the same thing. The fight was finished, but remnants of the adrenaline and animal intensity remained.”

“Love Fades. Mine Has. ~ Dimitri Belikov”

“Rose: "I was testing dorm security. It sucks."Dimitri: "You must be freezing. Do you want my coat?"Rose: "I'm fine. What are you doing out here? Are you testing security too?"Dimitri: "I am security. This is my watch."Rose: "Well, good work. I'm glad I was able to help test your awesome skills."- Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov (Shadow Kiss)”

“Eerily, the coronation was kind of a reverse of Tatianaʹs funeral. What was the old saying? The queen is dead. Long live the queen”

“ʺThe contractʹs null and void, by the way.ʺ”

“ʺWe need someone to get the roomʹs attention,ʺ I said. ʺSomeone not afraid to make a spectacle—I mean, besides me, of course.ʺ”

“ʺThings are going to get worse before they get better, arenʹt they?ʺ”

“Behaviors and feelings rarely line up”

“anger based on calculated reason is more dangerous than anger based on blind hate”

“She didnʹt know if she could carry on by herself, but then, she realized that if this wasnʹt a dream—and dear God, did it feel real—there was no magic ʺstopʺ in real life. If she couldnʹt deal with loneliness in a dream, she never would be able to while waking.”

“Come on outside when youʹre done,ʺ I told her. ʺItʹs like the barbecue of the damned. Except . . . thereʹs no grill.”

“Christian stretched out beside her and pulled her close. ʺBut for what itʹs worth, I think youʹd be a greatqueen too, Princess Dragomir.ʺʺYouʹre going to get dirty,ʺ she warned.ʺAlready am. Oh, you mean from your clothes?ʺ He wrapped his arms around her, heedless of her damp and muddy state. ʺI spent most of my childhood hiding in a dusty attic and own exactly one dress shirt. You really think I care about this T-shirt?ʺ”

“ʺWho′s a spirit user?ʺ said Robert.ʺFormer spirit user,ʺ said Victor, ʺShe became a Strigoi to get away from it.ʺʺYes . . . always a lure to that . . . kill to live, live to kill.Immortality and freedom from these chains, but oh, what a loss . . .ʺ said Robert.”

“ʺWhere is it?ʺ I asked.ʺLexington, Kentucky.ʺʺOh for Godʹs sake,ʺ I moaned. ʺWhy not the Bahamas? Or the Corn Palace?ʺDimitri tried to hide a smile. It might have been at my expense, but if Iʹd lightened his mood, I was grateful. ʺIf we leave right now, we can reach him before morning.ʺI glanced around. ʺTough choice. Leave all this for electricity and plumbing?ʺNow Sydney grinned. ʺAnd no more marriage proposals.ʺʺAnd weʹll probably have to fight Strigoi,ʺ added Dimitri.I jumped to my feet. ʺHow soon can we go?ʺ”

“Sydney sighed and stood up, smoothing her rumpled clothes with dismay. 'I need a coffee shop or something.''I think I saw one in a cave down the road,' I said.That almost got a smile from her.”