Veronica Rossi

“It's not far. Another week. Doesn't matter. I'll get you better shoes this time. And I'll carry your rocks for you. I'll even answer you question.”

“ Then he told Perry that love was like the waves in the sea, gentle and good sometimes, rough and terrible at others, but that it was endless and stronger than the sky and the earth and everything in between.”

“Snake eyes again. Damn dice,” Straggler said. He lifted the cup to reveal two ones on the table.Hyde smirked. “Strag, I didn’t think it was possible to be as unlucky as you are.”“He’s so unlucky it’s almost lucky,” Gren said. “It’s like he has reverse luck.”“He’s reverse good-looking, too,” said Hyde.“I’m going to reverse punch you,” Strag said to his brother.“That was reverse smart, man. It means you’re going to punch yourself.”

“From the corner of her eye, the wildflowers along the wall caught her attention. “Roar, wait!”Roar turned around. “Yes?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.Aria ran to the wall, scanning the flowers. She found the right one and plucked it. She drew in its scent and imagined Perry walking beside her, his bow across his back, looking over with his lopsided grin.She brought the flower to Roar. “I changed my mind,” she said. “Give him this.”Roar’s eyes crinkled in confusion. “I thought you liked roses. What’s this?”“A violet.” ”

“She knew she could answer it. She knew how to put one foot in front of the other even when every step hurt. And she knew there was pain in the journey, but there was also great beauty. She’d seen it standing on rooftops and in green eyes and in the smallest, ugliest rock. She would find the answer.”

“Her hand holding his for a dozen paces. His, resting on the small of her back for a moment. Touches that had no real purpose but to say I’m here and We are together still.”

“She could look at him forever. She could spend her life watching him just blink and breathe that near to her.”

“El amor es como las olas en el mar, gentil y bueno a veces, duro y terrible en otras, pero que era infinito y más fuerte que el cielo y la tierra y todo entre medio”

“El Amor es un ave rebelde que nadie puede domesticar”

“Los ideales pertenecen a un mundo que sólo el sabio puede entender”

“Un buen sueño era algo a lo que te aferrabas hasta el último momento antes de despertar.”

“Liv or love?" she asks. I brush her hair away from her neck and rest my hand there, feeling the beating of her pulse. "Either," I answer. "They're the same to me.”

“Perry could no longer deny that it was common knowledge. Aria was the safest path to him.”

“The boy who was taken," she said. "Is he your son?""How old do you think I am, Dweller?""I'm a little shaky on the fossil record, but I'd say fifty to sixty thousand years.""Eighteen. And no. He's not my son.”

“Yeah," Perry said. "That's the way out. But you're not leaving yet.”

“Doubters don't mean a damn thing,' I tell him. 'I doubt it'll rain tomorrow, but that doesn't mean I control the rain.”

“My ambitions aren't grand. All I have ever wanted is to be there for the two people who mean everything to me. Maybe that's a small goal to others, but it's always felt like enough.”

“Perry's hand settled on her hip, his grip firm. She felt his kiss settle intosomething deeper as his mouth moved with more urgency over hers. Suddenly there wasmore heat between them...”

“Listen closely...this is the most important thing you need to know while you're here. Do not eat the haddock. They've been overcooking it terribly.”

“Will you stay? I think I'd sleep better if you stayed here tonight. Then we could miss them together.”

“This is what I wanted tonight. Time away from the tribe with Liv and Perry, and even with Brooke. With no responsibilities and nothing to do except be.”

“I twist away, pulling her with me, and the battle begins. We roll over each other, tumbling, wrestling, tangling in the sand until my hands find her hands and my lips find her lips and then we slow. We slow and slow and slow until we move together as one.”

“It ruffles me a bit, not being able to tell apart my best friend from my girlfriend from this distance. But then one of the figures dashes across the sandy trail and jumps into my arms and I'm reasonably sure it's Liv and not Perry.”

“He's so unlucky it's almost lucky," Gren said. "It's like he has reverse luck.""He's reverse good-looking, too" said Hyde."I'm going to reverse punch you," Strag said to his brother."That was reverse smart, man. It means you're going to punch yourself.”

“Roar's smile widened. "I know. You missed me." She rolled her eyes. "It's barely been three weeks since I last saw you.""Miserable stretch of time." He said.”

“Come back with me, Aria. Be with me.”

“Perry. I want to see your back."Another surprise, but he nodded and turned away. Dropped his head forward and took the moment to try and calm his breath. He jerked when she traced the shape of the wings on his skin, a groan sliding out of him. Perry silently cursed himself. He couldn't have sounded more savage if he'd tried."Sorry," she whispered... "He's magnificent. Like you," she added softly. That was what did it.”

“She had no illusions of becoming a master knife fighter. This wasn't the Realms, where a thought delivered result. But she also knew she'd giver herself a better chance. And in life, at least in her new life, chances were the best she could hope for. They were like her rocks. Imperfect& surprising & maybe better in the long run than certainties. Chances, she thought, were life.”

“To the return of old friends and to an unexpected but most welcome new one.”

“It was a message from her. A reminder—here among hundreds of people—of a moment that had been theirs alone.”

“I agree with you,” Marron said quietly. “For what it’s worth.”Perry nodded in thanks. It was worth a lot just then.”

“He’d pushed it back, where he’d kept the thought for weeks, but it wouldn’t stay. Wouldn’t stop. Wouldn’t let him go.”

“I followed a hunch,” she said. “I had to—and I was right.”

“She looked at the knife, her throat tight with emotion. No roses or rings with him, but a knife with feathers carved into the handle. A knife that was part of him. She couldn't accept it.”

“That was my first kiss," she said. "My first real one."He brought his head close, resting his forehead on hers. Blond waves fell around her face, soft against her cheeks. His chest rose and fell as he drew in a breath. "Felt like the first real one for me, too.”

“I won't be chased by the sky.”

“Come thaw my frozen heart, my little arctic kitten.”Unable to resist, Aria jumped in and picked up the next line. “No chance, my yeti man, I’d rather be frostbitten.”“Let me be your snowman. Come live in my igloo.”“I’d rather freeze to death than hibernate with you.”

“Fine," she said, and frowned. Monosyllabicism. An Outsider disease, and she'd been infected.”

“Perry brushed a kiss on her cheek while she was chewing, and she learned that it was the loveliest thing to be kissed for no reason, even while chewing food.”

“Something heavy and cold at his core lightened. Hugging wasn't what he'd had in mind, but maybe it was better. It shouldn't surprise him, her knowing what he needed more than he did.”

“It didn't matter if Aria was hundreds of miles away, or whether she'd hurt him, or said goodbye, or anything else. Nothing would change the way he felt. The moment Aria had taken his hand on the roof at Marron's, she'd changed everything. No matter what happened, she'd always be the one.”

“He brought a sense of rightness. She felt it every moment she spent with him. Even the wrong ones. Even the painful ones, like now.”

“This girl. She's all I see.”

“Do you ever miss anything?'Perry smiled. 'You, all the time.”

“We lose and lose, but we're still here. Shaking in place, afraid of doing something. I'm tired of settling for this because I don't know if something better exists. It has to. What point is there otherwise? I can do something about it now. And I will.”

“There was nothing more painful than hurting someone you loved.”

“You know, glass is pretty easy to break, Aria." Roar was watching here, his gaze thoughtful.”

“Leaders need to see clearly in darkness, Peregrine. You already do that.”

“Ideals belong in a world only the wise man can understand," Marron said quietly.”

“A good dream was something you clung to until the last moment before waking.”