I don’t want to pretend,” I whispered. “I’m Poppy and you’re Casteel, and this is real.
He was the first thing I’d ever truly chosen for myself.
Let’s make a deal that we don’t borrow tomorrow’s problems today.
Always,” he whispered in the breath we shared. “Your heart was always safe with me. It always will be. There is nothing I will protect more fiercely or with more devotion, Poppy. Trust in that – in what you feel from me.
You can’t spell dysfunctional without fun, now can you?
I fell for you when you were Hawke, and I kept falling for you when you became Casteel.
You will bow before your Queen.” Casteel eyed the Atlantian coolly. “Or you will bleed before her. It is your choice.
I’ll say it again. I don’t care what you are. I care about who you are.
Make me feel incompetent and kill more than me, Princess.
Bravery and strength do not equal goodness.
He was both the villain and the hero, the monster and the monster-slayer.
He may hate being called the Dark One, but he has earned that name.” Kieran’s pale eyes met mine as a shiver curled its way down my spine. “But he’s the one thing in all the kingdoms that you, and only you, never have to fear.
I need to feel your lips on mine.” He planted his hands on the carriage wall, caging me in. “I need to feel your breath in my lungs. I need to feel your life inside me. I just need you. It’s an ache. This need. Can I have you? All of you?
Just so you know, Penellaphe doesn’t need protection. She is more than capable of handling things herself. But that is my future you are walking away with. Guard her well. Your life depends on it.
You’re beautiful when you’re quiet and somber, but when you laugh? You rival the sunrise over the Skotos Mountains.
You deserve so much more than what awaits you.
The world, no matter how big, is often smaller than we realize.
Dear gods, you have her on her own horse? Soon, she’ll be running one of us over instead of stabbing us.
That was very naughty,” Hawke chided, snatching the sword out of my hand as if I hadn’t been holding onto it. “You are so incredibly violent.” He dipped his chin and whispered, “It still turns me on.
Bravery is a fleeting beast, isn’t it? Always there to get you into trouble, but quick to disappear once you’re where you want to be.