We only get to be one person; we don't even get to choose that person. By the time we get ahold of ourselves, we are pieces already in play.
Laini TaylorEverything lined up. It has been easy, as if it were meant-" "Meant!" she said, amazed. She spun to face him, which, in the crush, brought her against his chest as if they were still dancing. She fought backward for space. As if what were meant?" "You," he said. "And me.
Laini TaylorShe tried to pray, but she had only ever prayed at night, and it seemed to her that the moons made poor protectors when angels chose to hunt by day.
Laini TaylorThere are other ways of showing someone you love them, such as fetching them out of Hell.
Laini TaylorThis, she thought, isnโt just for today. Itโs for everything. For the heartache that still felt like a punch in the gut each time it struck, fresh as new, at unpredictable moments; for the smiling lies and the mental images she couldnโt shake; for the shame of having been so naive. For the way loneliness is worse when you return to it after a reprieveโlike the soulโs version of putting on a wet bathing suit, clammy and miserable.
Laini TaylorJames often wondered at the chain of flukes it must have taken to bring him through with his own life and limbs intact. Once he might have believed it to be the work of Providence but it seemed to him now that to thank God for his life would be to suggest God had shrugged off all the others flicked them away like cigarette butts by the thousands and that seemed like abominable conceit. James Dorsey took no credit for being alive. His higher power these days was Chance.
Laini Taylor