Because love, after all, was eternal and not subject to the whims of death.
The guy was like part pro wrestler, part Toys “R” Us.
If anyone ever wanted to sense the infinity of time and existence, all they had to do was look at the night sky and feel their precious dead staring back at them. It was the great duality of union and separation.
Unfortunately, you choose things because they’re safer – that is understandable, though. Inanimate objects don’t do unexpected things or break your heart or betray you. Objects are safe. People are complicated.
Isn’t it wonderful not to have to be perfect to be loved?
Phury laid a hard one on the male’s mouth, the kiss a punch between faces, not anything even remotely sexual. And he did it only to wipe the expression off the bastard’s face. It worked. The Reverend stiffened and growled, and Phury knew he’d called the guy’s bluff. But just to make sure the lesson was learned, he clipped the male’s lower lip with a fang.
I don’t bite,” Saxton whispered darkly. “Unless you ask.” Blay.
Off to the side and out of the glow of the headlights, Blay hung back and watched as Qhuinn crouched down by the driver’s door and cursed softly. “Messy. Very messy.” Tohr did the duty on the passenger seat. “Oh, look, a matched set.” “I think they’re dead.” “Really. What gave that away. The fact they aren’t moving or that this guy over here has no facial features left?
Sometimes the changes in life came at you so fast, and with such fury, there was no way to keep up with reality.
But that was the beauty of inner thoughts. No one had to know your weaknesses. And once you’d finished dwelling on them, you could toss them into the mental trash bin they belonged in.
Caregivers had to take care of themselves, and part of that meant having a life beyond whatever illness had put them in their role. God knew Ehlena told this to the family members of her chronically sick patients all the time, and the advice was both sound and practical. At least when she gave it to others. Turned on herself, it felt selfish.
She looked into the room. So many machines and wires and tubes – a reminder that the human body was an incredible miracle, its countless autonomic functions a gift when they were operating as intended, and a cumbersome nightmare to have to approximate when they were not.
She felt sorry for the female who had been driven to such traits. Who had kept herself apart from all emotions. The female had been born under a curse. The female had done evil and had evil done unto her. The female had hardened herself, her mind and her emotions becoming steel. The female had been wrong about that locking down, that self-containment. It was not a case of strength, as she always told herself. It was strictly survival...
The thing was all mortals were going to lose the ones they loved. It was the way life worked. But for the most of the time, that reality was so far off in the mind that it had no more weight than a mere hypothetical. There were reminders, however, and the almost’s, the near-misses, the oh-God-please-no’s, snapped your chain and got you to stop and feel what was in your heart.
Every part of him wanted to stay with Jo. Make sure she was okay. Attend to her every need, bringing her the choicest food and cleanest drink, securing her a warm and dry shelter, along with clothes that were of fabrics and colors of her preference. He wanted to sleep with her up against his body, skin to skin, a dagger in his right hand, a gun under his pillow, a length of chain beneath the bed, to ensure her protection against anything and everybody that would hurt her.
Staring at her in his arms, he knew that he would lay his life down for hers without regret. He would slay dragons and move mountains for her. He would conquer whole worlds at her command and starve to skin and bones just to ensure she had food. She was not his sun or moon, but his galaxy.
Indeed, this was the problem with lying to intimates, he thought. The untruths always came home to roost and never in a way that justified the falsity, however small or large it had been. Because, in fact, there was never a justification to lie to someone who loved you.
He came into her life wearing a Syracuse ball cap and blue jeans that had holes in them.
Pride was an unattractive trait, even if it was well-placed.
You should always know who you are, he thought. And who you aren.