Could You Repeat That? CXXXXIII

Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed
"I'm sorry, Doullie. I didn't mean the things I said."
Adoulla had never been more tired in his life, and he tried to keep the pain out of his words. "Yes, you did."

The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny
'I loved her.'
And there the words sat in the space between them, where Madame Ferland's loose change had warmed a spot.

The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin
"Control your beast, Eninket." Ehiru raised his voice. It was not the peaceful thing to do, but there was little peace left inside him, and he did not care besides.

In Enemy Hands, David Weber
Yes, I know what "duty" requires, he thought, and reached down past Shannon's shoulder to press his own finger firmly on the "Erase" key. He heard Shannon inhale sharply, saw her head twitch, but she didn't say a word, and he turned away from her panel.

Symbiont, Mira Grant
"I think we're all expendable to her. We're all part of the story, and the story needs to be finished more than she needs to be kind."

Romancing the Duke, Tessa Dare
Someday, she would pass a rainy day sitting by that massive stone hearth, cuddled up in an overstuffed armchair and caught in the grips of a thrilling gothic novel.
Tonight, she would have to settle for living in one.

Acceptance, Jeff VanderMeer
Sometimes, too, the pain comes at you unexpectedly; you don't have to generate it, don't have to will it consciously upon yourself. It's just there.

My Salinger Year, Joanna Rakoff
All day we sat, our legs crossed at the knee, on our swivel chairs, answering the call of our bosses, ushering in writers with the correct mixture of enthusiasm and remove, never belying the fact that we got into this business not because we wanted to fetch glasses of water for visiting writers but because we wanted to be writers ourselves, and this seemed the most socially acceptable way to go about doing so, though it was already becoming clear that this was not at all the way to go about doing so.

The Immortal Iron Fist, volume one (TPB), Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker
PIRATE KING: Kill her! Kill her right now! She's only a little girl! How hard can it be to kill a little girl?!
Pirates aren't much for irony, but Wu would later insist that be the Pirate King's epitaph. How hard can it be to kill a little girl, Pirate King? Very, very hard indeed.

Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good, Kathleen Flinn
While there are many reasons we didn't watch a lot of TV, you had to start by blaming the encyclopedias.