Cece > Books: favorites‎ (40)

“Jin rose from the ashes, his sphere glowing white-hot from the flames.
"Surprise, bitches! Did you miss me? Don't lie. We both know you did."
Finn inhaled harshly, sounding like an angry tea kettle.
Kira's arm was still extended, the blade held as if it were an extension of her body.”

“Tell me, Friend." The last word held a vicious bite. “How many wars must I fight for you? How many friends do I have to lose before you consider it enough?”

“Nothing was ever easy with this woman. Perhaps that's why he found her endlessly fascinating. She was complicated, with cracks that made her even more beautiful for their presence. ”

“Not far now," he assured her. “You know that course is meant to be taken with two oshota pods. Not by a single woman with suicidal impulses."
"I see the conversation you wanted to have couldn't wait," Kira observed, her eyes drifting shut. Her words slurred. "I got skillz."
Graydon bounced her in his arms, jarring her awake. "No, you don't get to fall asleep now. Stay awake.”

“A hundred different ways to address this and you chose the most dangerous," he muttered.
"Also, a trait of hers," Jin pointed out. "You get used to it.”

“I take it she didn't get the chance to warn you about the Tsavitee attack under way," Kira guessed.
This could complicate things.
Graydon let loose a sound dangerously close to a growl, a low rumble warning people to escape before the cold grip of death came for them.
"I have proof," Kira offered when it looked like he might give in to his urge to throttle her.
"That would be lovely," he said through gritted teeth.”

“To her surprise, he didn't try to stop her. It seemed she'd underestimated him.
"I do not like this," he informed her.
"That gets me right here." She pointed at her heart. "Really."
The look he bent on her was unamused. "I will be most disappointed if you die.”

“Finn noticed the children as they performed their drills at a pace three times slower than normal”
“What are they doing?" he asked with a scowl.
"Practicing," Kira said succinctly.
"Practicing for what?"
"The shitstorm that is life.”

“I glanced back at Tyrrik. He was still lying right where I’d left him, looking pretty much dead.
“Good, good.” I gave myself an inane pep talk, not believing a word of it.”

“My brief flash of good humor disappeared. “It’s Tyrrik’s fault. He’s sulking.”
“I’m not sulking,” the one-hundred-and-nine-year old said.
“Mmm-hmm, sure.”
Dyter exploded. “Enough!” He whirled on us, stomping back to wave a finger in my face. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t speak at all.”
“That’s what we were doing before,” I huffed. “You said it made you cranky.” By this point, I was needling the old man, but I craved an outlet for my frustration, and he’d offered one.”

“You ruined my tavern!” I grabbed at Tyrrik, and he lowered his head. Holding either side of his Drae face, I narrowed my eyes at his slightly sheepish expression.
“You are so paying for that,” I snarled, staring into his inky eyes.
I released his head and sank to my knees. “Everything . . . I’ve worked for. In ruins.”
Tyrrik nudge me with his snout. "You’ve only been here three days.”

“My mouth dried as I saw what he held aloft. Playing it cool, I asked, “What’s that?”
“A gold trinket.”
Desire shot through me, and I propped myself up, licking my lips. “What kind of trinket?”
“It’s an antique pill box that once belonged to an esteemed baroness.” He tossed the pill box in his hand. “Want it?”
“The gold beckoned me. It was just what this cave needed. A bit of sparkling wealth. Actually, I needed it. I got to my feet and murmured, “Yes.”

“He turned to the guards and announced us. “We seek an audience with King Zakai. Please inform him that Lord Tyrrik the . . . Free Drae, Dyter of Verald—ambassador to King Caltevyn, and Ryn are here.”
I practically gave myself Drae whiplash at that. I lowered my head to Dyter, a low growl rumbling in my chest. Shouldn’t I be Ryn the Coolest Drae, or Ryn the Phaetyn-Drae? Or maybe Ryn the Phaetyn-Drae, daughter of Ryhl—
Dyter eyed me nervously and blurted, “I mean to say, Ryn the most powerful Drae.”

“Toby Daye Investigations, Toby Daye speaking, what is it now, Cliff?”

“Toby Daye Investigations, Toby Daye speaking, what is it now, Cliff?”

“On the other hand, it’s actually been something of a relief, because it’s something I can count on. Dawn comes, the moon wanes, and Tybalt hates me.”

“So you followed me after I told you not to, and saw us come out of the cliff?”
“Yes.”
“Manuel?”
“Yes?”
“That was dumb.”
“Yes, ma’am.”

“You have to visit the Luidaeg.” She said it like it was a perfectly reasonable idea. Like hell.”

“My name is October Christine Daye; I live in a city by the sea where the fog paints the early morning, parking is more precious than gold, and Kelpies wait for the unwary on street corners. Neither of the worlds I live in is quite mine, but no one can take them away from me. I did what had to be done, and I think I may finally be starting to understand what's important. It's all about finding the way home, wherever that is. I plan on finding out."

“Alex thought it seemed awfully nonchalant of her to grab a snack while the city was in peril, but a girl had to eat.”

“When humans stop running into the middle of mage duels to capture video clips for their Youtube streams—or collecting debris from the battlefield for their junk collections—then I’ll stop being hard on them.”

“Uh, yes.” She chewed on her lip. “I’ve found myself a…partner.”
The assassin winked at her.
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Someone to work with me in the investigation.”
“Who?”
“Slayer.”
“The assassin?” Low chuckles rumbled from the other end of the line. “I thought you two hated each other.”

“Come now. Don’t be moody.”
“Moody?” she spat back his words. “I was poisoned—”
“Which wasn’t my fault.”
“—and then I woke up in a dungeon tied down with chains. I have every right to be moody”

"The girl rose, and her eyes laches onto me. She was beautiful, for an instant, and then her expression twisted with rage."

“His brow creased in a frown. “If you’re a joke, it isn’t an especially humorous one.”
I threw up my hands in frustration. “You are the most intolerable individual I’ve ever met.”
He bowed. “Why, thank you, Cécile. Always a pleasure to have one’s accomplishments recognized.”

“Why is my closet full of dresses?”
“Are they mine?” I asked with interest.
Silver eyes fixed on me. “Well, they certainly are not mine. Unless you imagine that I dress up in ladies’ clothing and prance about the palace when the mood strikes me?”

“I heard Jérôme’s voice. He was trying to soothe me, but the words meant nothing. I had to go back. was trapped. was in danger. I had to go back.”

"I sense the boy the moment he sets foot in the cave. For the first time in centuries, I stir. I am smoke in the lamp, and I curl and stretch, shaking off the lethargy of five hundred years."

“Get control of yourself, Zahra!
My name isn’t Zahra. I am Smoke-on-the-Wind, Curl-of-the-Tiger’s-Tail, Girl-Who-Gives-the-Stars-Away.
He loves you!
He is just a mortal. Just a boy, a moment in time that will soon pass.
His name is Aladdin.
I have known a thousand and one like him. I will know a thousand and one more. He is nothing.
He is everything. ”

“You’re a—you’re a—”
Say it, boy. Demon of fire. Monster of smoke. Devil of sand and ash. Servant of Nardukha, Daughter of Ambadya, the Nameless, the Faceless, the Limitless. Slave of the Lamp. Jinni.
“. . . a girl!” he finishes.
For a second, I can only blink at him"

‘‘Even a thief may have honor, and even a jinni may have a heart.’’

“Right. Galley. Got it. I’ll ask the captain. What was his name?”
“Sinbad, I think?”

“I have the life I want,” Raisa sa

“I have the life I want,” Raisa said. “Oh, I know it’s not perfect, and people are trying to kill me, and nobody in the queendom can get along, and we’ll likely be invaded soon, but other than that…”

“I just hope he doesn’t expect me to marry Kip,” Raisa said, shuddering. “I’d leap from the tower first.”
Cat snickered, and that set Magret to laughing, and soon they were all in convulsions.
“Even w-worse,” Cat cackled, blotting tears of mirth from her eyes. “Maybe he wants you to marry b-b-both of them.”
“I’ll make you a rope, Your Majesty, so you can hang yourself,” Magret said.”

“Finally, he knelt beside it. “I told you to stay!” he muttered. “Don’t you ever listen?”
This was so ludicrous, the dog such an unexpected walk-on, that Raisa couldn’t help laughing, though her eyes were blurred with tears.
“A dog? You’re a wanted man, accused of treason, and you brought a dog into this?” She shook her head. “Is that fair to the dog?”

“Maybe if you knew how to use them, you could— I don’t know—shoot flames from the palms of your hands.'
Han was thinking he was just as likely to shoot flames from his rear end”

“Right, Raisa thought. If there ever comes a day that I can’t get into more mischief than Mellony, I’ll cut my own throat.”

“At first she thought he was grumbling because she was late, but it seemed he was practicing some sort of speech.
“Your Highness, may I say how honored I am that you . . . ah . . . how pleased I am to be remembered . . . gaaaah.” He shook his head in disgust and cleared his throat. “Your Highness, I was astounded—no—surprised when you spoke to me, and hope that you might consider our friendship . . . Hanalea’s bloody bones!” he exclaimed, smacking himself in the forehead. “What an idiot.”

“She paused long enough to make up a lie. “Applying for a job.”
“Really? What kind of job? What are you good at?”
Her expression said, Cutting the hearts out of thieves and kidnappers."

“Why is it that no one shows my wolf her due respect?” He smirked. “Well it might be a dog eat dog world, but... a dragon eats everyone.”

“ They wore identical cold, hard expressions. Could their parents even tell them apart? No wonder they were known as the Four, there seemed to be no individuality about them at all.
And they were mutha-effing-scary.”

“Shit, he even had me convinced that the dragon marked were going to take over the world, and I was one of them”

“For the first time since we entered the prison, I was depressed. Braxton grinned as he sat down right next to me. “All that we’ve gone through in the last few days and finally you’re upset because of shitty food”

“I can’t make words. I can’t make a sound. I have thoughts and feelings. I have pictures and colors. They are all bottled up inside of me because I can’t make words.
But I can hear them.
The world is alive with words. The animals, the trees, the grass, and the birds hum with their own words. “Life,” they say.”

“He shuddered in horror. He seemed momentarily lost in the horrified speculation of his possible beardlessness”

“Without desire, there is only duty,” Tiras whispered, quoting me as I quoted him. “But sometimes our greatest desire is to do our duty.” Then he closed his eyes, as if offering up a prayer for strength, though I heard only his yearning, and it made my heart tremble.”

“NO.
“Yes.”
Lust is different from desire. There are women who will gladly assuage your lust. I will not.
“You want me. I heard it. I feel it.”
It matters little what we want, I shot back, using his words against him. I may be your weapon. But I am not your queen.
He sat back on his haunches, his hands on his thighs, and he considered me.
“Do you want to be my queen?”
Why would I want that?
“Most women would.”
I am not most women.
“You don’t want power? Riches?”
Power only gets you killed.”

“I tried to instruct the soot to disappear too, but it stubbornly remained, proving that I could put out the fire, but I couldn’t yet save myself from the natural consequences of my mistakes.”

“I wished I had let him kill me instead.”
Why?
“Because in that moment, as I watched him die, I felt something leave me too. Like he’d taken part of my soul. The best part. I’ve never gotten it back. And I miss it.”

“Winter turn

“Winter turned to spring, spring to summer, summer into autumn, autumn back into winter, but each turning of the year grew harder and harder as the little girl grew up while the Goblin King remained the same. She washed the dishes, cleaned the floors, brushed her sister’s hair, soothed her brother’s fears, hid her father’s purse, counted the coins, and no longer went into the woods to see her old friend.”

“Käthe made a face. “It’s always about Josef with you. Don’t you have any dreams of your own?”
I did. They were locked up in a box, safe and sound beneath the bed we shared, never to be seen, never to be heard.”

“Tsk, tsk.” The Goblin King waved one long, slender finger at me. “I had thought you a worthy opponent. We were playing a game, Fräulein, but you don’t seem much inclined to engage me.”

“Liesl,” Josef said again. “I’m so very glad you’re safe. But I must ask you: who have you been searching for? (view spoiler)[None of us understand what you’ve been talking about. Who, my dear, is Käthe?” (hide spoiler)]

“And what had I done with the Goblin King’s gift? I had taken it and hidden it away, like it was something secret, something shameful. Perhaps my lack of faith had cost me everything after all.”

“So I tried my best to stifle hope. Because hope’s twin was despair, and despair was infinitely worse. If hope hurt, then despair was the absence of hurt. It was the absence of feeling. It was the absence of caring.
I wanted very much to care.”

“I am Elisabeth,” I said. “But Elisabeth is only a name. An empty word I fill with myself. But you had a word once; I see the echoes of it within you.”

“Fuck the gods,” I said again, a little louder this time. Just double-checking. “Fuck the fucking gods!” I screamed. I had no excuse for that one. It just felt good.”

" I mean … I know things have happened so fast, but … did you consider turning it down?”
I hadn’t. Not even once, actually. Which was odd because I was pretty certain I would die there.”

“Which actually wasn’t a bad idea. I mean … I had a candlestick, and Fakey made it look super easy to use as a weapon. I could totally take Point on this. And, let’s not forget that I had stabbed a god before. That practically made me an expert in god-fighting.”

“It wasn’t the tree that had surprised me, though. It was the guy tied to the tree, and the guy standing before him, holding up a crossbow. He was blindfolded, and the guy tied to the tree was laughing”

“The sols admittedly looked a little put-off, but I was sure it was only because they hadn’t actually thought that I would try to get myself sentenced to death. Pfft. They clearly didn’t know me.”

“but Yael was meeting my stare, and he had this knowing expression on his face that made me want to sucker-punch him in the face.
So …
Yeah.
That’s how I ended up sucker-punching a sacred sol on my second sun-cycle”

“I knew that he was moments away from kicking the door down like a crazy, deranged sol, so I quickly raised my fist and knocked. They all turned to stare at me, looking like I’d just stolen their favourite toy and ripped its head off.
“What?” I asked defensively. “Just trying to be polite.”
“We’re here to kill her,” Siret reminded me, his voice a frustrated groan."

“I gave him a surprised look, but he only met my eye stubbornly. Challenging me to argue with him. Well … I wasn’t going to argue with him before, but he challenged me, dammit”

“I tossed out my hands to catch myself, forgetting that I was holding the knife … And that was how I stabbed a God in Topia.”

"There’s a knife in your chest, you idiot!” I realised that screaming at him probably wasn’t going to help the situation, but I couldn’t seem to control myself.”

“What had I told my parents before we left home? I would join Combat or die trying. A fine choice of words. What had been meant as a melodramatic proclamation was now to be my intended irony”

“I told Barclae I'd cut this flock by five!" he roared. "And yet you have all remained to spite me… Apparently your lot has a backbone. I intend to break it."

“Today there was only one rule: don't ask for help. There would be no healers. ”

“The people that tell you what you want to hear are the most dangerous enemies you'll ever meet.”

“Unfortunately, it was much easier to point out the problem than come up with a solution.”

“He didn't look away. "You will thank me one day for not filling your head with false compliments. Adversity teaches one more than flattery ever will.”

“For the love of—" Darren slammed his fist against the wall and glared down at me. "I guess I should congratulate myself," he declared, "on helping the world's biggest idiot!”

“I am going to do something against my better judgment," he said softly. He reached down to put one hand against my waist and the other underneath my chin. "You can scream obscenities at me after."
And then he kissed me.”

“I'm saying that I'm a moody, insecure, narrow-minded, jealous, borderline homicidal bitch, and I want you to promise me that you're okay with that, because it's who I am, and you're what I need.”

“Sonofabitch!” I shouted. Great, that was going to leave a mark. There’d be a bruise the size of my stupidity”

"You were so nervous, you kept blushing. Never had someone try to stake me who blushed so much.”

“Are you telling me bloody caramel apples and books taught you how to kill vampires? Is that what you’re saying? Well good thing most of the recent generations are nearly illiterate or we’d all be in serious trouble. Blimey!”

“Lucifer’s bouncing balls, Kitten, not again!" Uh-​oh. I squirmed, instinctively also trying to block Tony’s body from his view. As if that made him any less dead.”

“I love you.”
My mouth fell open and my mind briefly cleared of thought. Then I found my voice.“No, you don’t.”
He let out a snort and dropped his hand. “You know, pet, that is one truly annoying habit you have, telling me what I do and do not feel”

"Kitten, you still haven’t told her? Blimey, what are you waiting for?”
“The Second Coming of Christ!” I snapped. “And not a moment sooner! Here, in the closet!”

“I’m sorry!” he choked, making it worse by trying to talk. More coffee emerged, spraying me in the face. His eyes bugged in horror, but I laughed so hard at seeing him leak like a thermos with holes that I started to hiccup.”

“My eyes narrowed as I considered my options. One: Put a stake through his heart. Appealing, but morally incorrect”

“He’s from the south of Sinta, where muscle and cunning decide who lives or dies. Our paths would never have crossed in the past, and warlords don’t usually frequent the circus.”

"When Gods dabble in the affairs of men, anything can happen."

“I hurl the Cerberus figurine at Sybaris’s head, praying to Poseidon, Hades, and anyone else who might be listening that something useful will happen.”

“What are you doing?” The warlord sits again, resting his sword across his lap.
“The Gods might punish your gargantuan ego, O Scary One. I’m trying to avoid the lightning bolts.”

“People talk about fight or flight? That's nonsense. It's fight and flight.”

“Have I cheated death again? Hades must be allergic to me.”

“I try to smile back but feel my expression twist into a dash of murderous, a pinch of maniacal, and a sprinkle of watch your back. Oops.”

“Her sculpted lips purse. “Help me understand a ‘sort of’ abduction,” Selena says, pouring me a cup of water. "Well, it sounds stupid when you say it like that."

“What’s your horse’s name? All this time, and I never thought to ask.”
“Horse.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s original.”
“Brown Horse,” he amends.”

"You're my life now. We'll live together, or die trying."

“What were you doing there?” She sounds genuinely interested, and a little awed.
“Mostly getting tortured,” I answer. “Loads of fun.”