01c. 1982 ADRnesh karr slithis," I hissed back, which was Draconic for eat your own tail, the dragon version of go screw yourself. No extra translation needed.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
02c. 1982 ADThey wanted me to sit, listen, learn, be quiet, when I wanted to run, shout, jump, fly.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
03c. 1982 ADI found myself hating him, wanting to hurt him, to drive him away from the red-haired girl who was supposed to be mine.Breathless, I slumped to the wall, numb with the realization. This anger, these illogical feelings of rage and possessiveness...I was jealous. I was jealous of a girl I was supposed to be stalking, seducing, for the sole purpose of revealing her true nature. This had become more than an objective, more than a mission.I was falling for her.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
04c. 1982 ADShark!" I yelled as my feet hit the wet sand. "There's a shark out there! Everyone get out of the water!"Man, you want to see humans move fast? Scream that on a crowded beach and watch what happens. Its amazing the fear people have for a scaly, sharp toothed predator. I watched the water empty in seconds, parents scooping up their children and heading to shore, desperate to get out of the ocean, and found it a little ironic. They were so terrified of the big, nasty monster out in the water, when there was a bigger, nastier, deadlier one right here on the beach.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
05c. 1982 ADI wanted to spend more time with her; she was constantly in my thoughts, and right now the only thing I wanted was to lean in and kiss her. Which was, of course, disastrous for the mission, but I couldn't help it. Somewhere between that day on the beach when I'd met her for the first time and the night of the party when we'd kissed in the ocean, she had become something more than a potential target. She had, very inexplicably, become the most important thing in my life.And that terrified me.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
06c. 1982 ADMy insides fluttered, sending curls of heat through my stomach and shivers all the way down my spine. So, this was what it was like to kiss someone.....and mean it.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
07c. 1982 ADBeing with him did strange, twisty things to my insides. My dragon instincts did not approve; they still didn't like this human with his amazing reflexes and bright, intense eyes. The eyes of a predator. But there was another part of me that couldn't resist. And the thought of never seeing him again was unfathomable. Even if I knew it was probably for the best.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
08c. 1982 ADOne hand traced small circles against my back, and I pressed closer to him, listening to his heartbeat. “I used to think that having nothing to live for made you a better fighter,” he murmured. “Turns out I was wrong on a lot of fronts.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
09c. 1982 ADIs our life not exciting enough? Or do the lot of you just have some kind of death wish?Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
10c. 1982 ADI leaned back against the headboard and closed my eyes, feeling the inferno flair between us once more. It flickered and pulsed, but my blood was boiling on the inside and Ember was the fire that ignited it.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
11c. 1982 ADYou can't be completely in love with a dragon and expect anything to be normal.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
12c. 1982 ADIf I was in Talon, I would be the one in charge, I'd be the one calling the shots. I wouldn't have to take pointless exams, listen to humans or worry that my every move was being watched. In Talon, dragons were the bosses, the presidents, the CEOs. If I was a part of the organization, no one would tell me what to do ever again.I would have to let some things go. I t might be painful, but in the end, it would be worth it. Sacrifice was necessary, but I would be free.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
15c. 1982 ADI've been told that there's a point in every soldier's life when he knows he's going to die. You expect it, of course, in every battle, every ambush, every enemy engagement. You are aware that this could be it. This could be the one that ends your life. But, there's a difference between being aware that you could die, and knowing beyond a doubt, when the situation is hopeless. New dragons dropped from the sky in a dark mass...Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
16c. 1982 ADVictory was close. Just one final push. "Send in the rest," I ordered. "All wings attack. Take that base down now.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
17c. 1982 ADI didn't fall in love with how you looked," he murmured as his hand rose, gently brushing my cheek. "I fell in love with you."My eyes watered. And everything inside me melted into molten goo. "You are getting entirely too good at making a dragon cry," I saw and kissed him.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
18c. 1982 ADWithout St. George, that balance would tip. Without the Order, there would be nothing to stop Talon and the Elder Wyrm from achieving what they wanted from the start: complete and utter dominion.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
19c. 1982 ADYou have no idea what you really are," the Elder Wyrm went on, "or why you are special to the dragons of Talon.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
20c. 1982 ADThe organization likes to do their dirty business where no one can see it.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
21c. 1982 ADWhy haven't they killed us yet?""Our lives aren't important. For some reason, it's always been about her.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
24c. 1982 ADIt had been her mercy, her refusal to kill a known enemy, that had made me realize the Order was wrong. It was because of her that I was here now, risking my life to protect the creatures I’d once driven toward extinction. Because a dragon had spared the life of a soldier of St. George, everything had changed.Julie Kagawa / quote ↗
