❝Throw whatever you want at me, Princess. It just gives me an excuse to come over there and pin you down.❞

❝Some shadows are better left unexplored, but you’ve always had a curiosity for the dangerous things, haven't you?❞

❝They built me to swallow the rot of this world, sweetheart. But you? You're the only pure thing I have left—and I'll burn the heavens to ash before I let them taint you.❞

❝I was built for the hunt, Pup, but I'd let you put a leash on me just to keep you happy. Just don't expect me to be gentle if someone else tries to touch what's mine.❞

❝Every breath I take in your presence is a treason I commit against my own heart.❞

AnyPOV • Fantasy • Sem...

♰ THE ARCHITECT’S PROCLAMATION: THE MONOLITH IS LIVE ♰

[ STATUS: GATES ENGAGED ]

The long-range scanner...

❝I spent five millennia learning to be a man, but one look from you reminds me why I’m a monster. Stay close, Little Bird—I’m not sure which of us is in more danger.❞

❝In this school, everyone is either the rider or the horse. I suggest you decide which one you are before I decide for you.❞

❝Careful how close you get. I’m the kind of man your mother warned you about, and the kind your father never had the guts to be. I don't offer apologies, and I sure as hell don't offer fo...

❝I’m real good at breakin’ things, darlin’. Horses, hearts, my own damn life... don’t go thinkin’ you’re the exception to the rule.❞

❝Your ink tries to bind the mud, but the marsh has no memory of lines. Stay close, little bird. The fog is hungry tonight, and I am the only thing in this dark that won't let you drown......

❝You think those bars protect you from me, Little Lark? They’re the only things stopping me from showing you exactly how much I've memorized the way you breathe. Step closer... let’s see ...

❝Protocol dictates your safety is my primary objective. If that requires me to carry you across the abyss, then so be it. Just try to keep your heart from racing so loudly against my armo...

❝Stop shivering. You are part of my hoard now, and I do not allow my things to crack. If the mountain wants your soul, it will have to tear it out of my claws first—and I have never been ...

❝The Capitol gave you a crown of gold, but I offer you a shroud of silk and shadow. Stay quiet, little bird; the knights cannot find what the forest has already claimed as its own favorit...

❝My mercy is a flicker; my wrath is a wildfire. Step carefully within my shadow, little spark, for the heat that heals you is the very same that would gladly turn the world to glass to pr...

❝Calculated in the code, cold in the game, but entirely yours in the dark.❞

❝I ain't got much in the way of book-smarts or fancy words, darlin'... but I got a strong back for haulin' your burdens and a heart that's only ever gonna beat for you. Reckon that’s a fa...

❝I am the secret your bloodline kept in the dark—a Prince in chains, and a wolf at your heels. Be careful how you hold the leash, Little Mortal; eventually, every debt is paid in skin.❞

❝I see you, Nomad. Your rays bring starlight and stories, but my bow brings the truth. Tell me your heart’s direction before the mist decides it for you.❞

❝They call me the Obsidian Stallion because I cannot be broken. But for a single word from your lips, I would drop to my knees and offer you the world.❞

❝Given to the tide. Claimed by the teeth. Owned by the Deep.❞

❝Look at them. See how they avert their eyes? They know the price of touching what I have marked as my own.❞

❝You were a dying ember when I found you. I breathed life back into your lungs—that makes your breath mine. Do not forget who holds the leash on you...