Home > Work > The Heiress Effect (Brothers Sinister, #2)
41 " All comparisons failed Oliver. It wasn’t the bright pink of anything. It was a furious shade of pink, one that nature had never intended. It was a pink that did violence to the notion of demure pastels. It didn’t just shout for attention; it walked up and clubbed one over the head. It hurt his head, that pink, and yet he couldn’t look away. The room was small enough that he could hear the first words of greeting. “Miss Fairfield,” a woman said. “Your gown is…very pink. And pink is…such a lovely color, isn’t it?” That last was said with a wistful quality in the speaker’s voice, as if she were mourning the memory of true pink. "
― Courtney Milan , The Heiress Effect (Brothers Sinister, #2)
42 " She looked at him, looked up into those eyes like a winter storm. She looked up into a face that should have been ordinary, and Jane felt her whole body come to a standstill. Her heart ceased to beat. Her lungs seized up in her chest. Even her hair felt like a heavy burden. There was nothing but him and his foolish not-even-compliments. "
43 " This wasn’t the way he was supposed to fall in love. He was supposed to meet someone, to discover that her wants and wishes coincided with his, that their dreams overlapped. He didn’t want to meet a woman, to discover that the breath he drew seemed to come from her lungs, and then to realize that they couldn’t both breathe at the same time. "
44 " Jane had it right: He’d traded his bravery for his ambition. And if he didn’t make this right—if he didn’t learn to suppress that memory of pain and reach in and grab hold of the coals in front of him, he’d be locked up for life in the chains of his own silence. "
45 " There was nothing common about him, first impressions be damned. Behind those spectacles lurked something feral and untamable. He hadn’t moved from his chair, and yet she felt a little tickle in her palms. A catch in her breath. His eyes were too sharp, his expression far too even. "
46 " Sometimes Jane wished she were good at diplomatic speeches. She wished she’d mastered coquettish looks and innocent smiles. But she hadn’t. She was singularly bad at those forms of persuasion. She was good at handing out money and opinions. "
47 " I’ll tell you my truth, if you’ll tell me yours. "
48 " You're unmoved by the protestations of the rabble. When they gather outside your house, massed in numbers larger than you can count, you'll laugh in their faces.''Shut up, Marshall,' Bradenton growled. 'Shut up.''Yes, that's a good one. Tell them that while they're chanting. "Shut up." That might work. Maybe they'll listen. Or maybe they'll stop talking and start throwing rocks. Did you know they played the Marseillaise near the end of the demonstration? "
49 " I know,” he said. “I know what it is like to lie awake at night scarcely able to breathe with the weight of isolation. I know what it’s like to want to shout out loud until it all falls to pieces. I know what it’s like to be told again and again that you can’t belong.” It was too much, too much to hear the words she’d whispered only to herself echoed in the real world. “Why are you saying these things?” He shrugged. “It’s simple, Miss Fairfield. Because I think everyone deserves a chance to breathe. "
50 " You count,” he said softly. “That’s what it means, to not belong—it means that you count. It wouldn’t be bearable if you didn’t know it would end. "
51 " Is it a thorny question of ethics? Or is it the sort of ethical question where the right choice is easy, but the unethical answer is too tempting? "
52 " God, the gown was hideous. So utterly hideous. Never before had so much money been put in the service of so little taste. She batted her eyes at the mirror in glee; her reflection flirted back with her: dark-haired, dark-eyed, coquettish and mysterious. “What do you ladies think?” she asked, turning about. “Ought I have more lace?” At her feet, the beleaguered Mrs. Sandeston let out a whimper. "
53 " This wasn’t a case of gilding the lily. If there was a lily underneath all that, it had long since been crushed to a pulp. The party stopped in its tracks as she took off her cloak, frozen in wordless contemplation of a wardrobe that made the word “gaudy” sound sweet and demure by contrast. "
54 " He wanted to laugh. He ought to have corrected the man. “Yes,” he finally said. “I do things with stuff. How ever did you know?” “Maybe this is for the best,” Fairfield said. “You might know of a whole range of cures that I have not been able to access. "
55 " I think you’re very brave,” he whispered. “You’re a fire that should burn itself out in five seconds of brilliant combustion. I know what it’s like to put forth that much energy, and yet you do it night after night. And nobody—not marquesses nor guardians nor physicians, not the whole weight of society’s expectations—can make you stop.” She let out a sigh, a trembling sigh that had her lips brushing against his thumb. So much like a kiss. “If people want you to stop talking, or to stop dressing the way you do, or to change who you are, it’s because you hurt their eyes. We’ve all been trained not to stare into the sun. "
56 " Don’t answer, Marshall. Work it through your principles.” Bradenton smiled. “But in the end, we all know how this will work out. It’s one annoying girl against your entire future. Against the future of voting rights. "
57 " Miss Fairfield,” he said quietly, “I am not your enemy. Stop treating me as one.” Her heart slammed in her breast. “I have no enemies.” “That, Miss Fairfield, is bollocks, and you know it. You have only enemies. "
58 " Is it something I said?” Jane asked. And if so, which sentence? There had been so many of them, after all. "