Home > Work > Bonds of Brass (The Bloodright Trilogy #1)
1 " And when we break apart, my terror triples. Because it's not enough---all of him, the promise of his future, everything I've thrown my soul away for. It's not worth what we're about to do. "
― Emily Skrutskie , Bonds of Brass (The Bloodright Trilogy #1)
2 " No empire is worth it if I don’t have you too. "
3 " It feels ridiculous to say it now. For gods’ sake, we just caved into this. But two and a half years is more than enough to know, even if you’ve only been kissing for a microscopic portion of them, so it doesn’t feel shameful in the slightest to whisper, “I love you,” into the inches between us.And it feels a thousand times more ridiculous when Gal whispers, “I love you too,” back. "
4 " My only allegiance is to an empire that doesn’t exist yet, to the possibility of Gal’s future rule. Maybe that makes me a traitor. Maybe it forfeits my soul. But for him—for this disastrous boy sleeping next to me—I would, I will. "
5 " I feel like I’m driving you away. And nothing is worth that—if I lose you, I have nothing left.”“But you will”, I think. “But you won’t,” I tell him. "
6 " It’s so clear now, looking at him. I should’ve trusted my instincts from the start—they always point me back in the same direction. Him, him, always him. Save him. Kiss him. Tell him. "
7 " Why do I trust you?” Gal asks.My blood runs cold.But Gal’s tone isn’t cruel or calculating. It’s hopeful. Warming. He’s on to something. “Maybe you don’t trust me—I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t, after everything—but I trust you with my life. I know I can trust you because you throw your life on the line to save me. Time and time again, no matter how little I deserve it. You’ve sacrificed everything for me. "
8 " I know what it’s like to walk down that path, feeling as if you have no other route. I know how hard it is to pull yourself back from it once that instinct is ingrained. And I know how easy it is to give in to it when you tell yourself it’s the only way to survive. "
9 " He’s every inch his mother’s son now, and if his hands were around my neck, he’d squeeze. "
10 " On my left, power without fathom in the fragile body of a boy. On my right, a nightmare of a girl who should be ruling these streets. And in the middle, there’s me. "
11 " Are you okay? How are you holding up?” His voice is soft—too soft for the thoughts running wild in my head.I shrug halfheartedly. It’s dead. It’s gone. I can’t carry it with me. “Still flying,” I tell him, trying to convince myself it’s true. "
12 " I can’t lose him, but somehow it feels like I already have. "
13 " I go where Gal goes.”“Even if the resistance retakes Rana?”“I go where Gal goes,” I repeat. "
14 " Keep flying,” I whisper hoarsely, the roar of the air around us stifling the words as they leave my mouth. “No matter what, keep flying. "
15 " But through all of this, through every part of this mess, the only thing that’s ever mattered is Gal. There’s only one side that has my allegiance. It’s not Archon, which fell and fled, or Umber, which conquered and reshaped. It’s not the past. It’s that possibility of a better future. It’s only ever been Gal. "
16 " He's always had my back. And now this carapace is all I have to protect me when I need him the most. "