Favourite Assembly quotes

“A home is not four walls and a roof, banajaanh. It is feeling safe. It is belonging. It is to laugh without restraint, to cry without discomfort, to be free to be yourself without fear of judgment.” **assembly, Ash**

We stared at each other for what felt like hours. Me, cut open and bleeding through invisible wounds. Him, unmovable, unreadable, untouchable; safe within his armor made of ice and marble and jagged edges that cut every time I got too close. **assembly, Hope**

“Because you were young and wounded when we met.” A small smile tugged at those wide lips, his eyes heating as they roamed over my face. “Yet, I knew you only needed confidence to spread your wings. And then you would soar. Higher than any of us ever could.” **assembly, Ash**

Family was important to our lost little waif. It was apparent in the hungry way she watched our small pack when we were together; in the way she hung onto every word when we relieved tales of our past. Longing was carved into her tremulous smile, etched between the lines of her rare frowns, tattooed across the heart she wore outside her body for everyone to see. Hope longed for family the same way I longed for everything I couldn’t have; with a deep, unending ache. **assembly, Jason**

But I did need this hell to stop. I could not go on like this, out of control, dangerous, bleeding emotions. And I could not continue punishing Hope for my mistakes. What had she done but attempt to forge a friendship? What had I done but condemn her for her actions? Extinguishing the light I wished to preserve. **assembly, Lucien**

It was the same weariness I had long since embraced. The kind that came from being unwilling—or unable—to share one’s responsibilities. I did not want my pack to feel burdened. I did not want them to carry the weight of inevitable guilt that burrowed through to the soul when a tough decision led to unforeseen consequences and loss. So I made the hard choices, content to carry the strain so that my brothers would not have to. **assembly, Ash**

Strength came in many shapes and sizes, and the kind of strength Hope possessed was the kind that too often went overlooked. The rarest kind. It was the strength to keep living when the easier choice was dying. The strength to retain kindness when the world had only ever shown cruelty. The strength to stand up for others even when standing up for oneself was impossible. It was pure, beautiful, unselfish strength. And it infused every inch of her soul. **assembly, Ash**

No one should be allowed to wield this kind of power over a mahír fáinn, not when madness howled in our blood and death had long since been etched into our bones. But the place that had been filled with the past now burned, filled only with her, with Hope. **assembly, Ash**

The past is the past, my love, and you won’t find happiness in the present as long as you cling to the shadows of a life that’s already been lived **assembly, Jason**

I’d learned to deal with pain. I’d learned to let it flow over me and accept it for what it was—a biological response inherent in all creatures. Pain was a part of life, and I would not let it rule me. **assembly, Hope**

Sometimes I wondered if she tried to become invisible, be as unobtrusive as possible so we wouldn’t find fault with her choices or her presence and eject her from our lives. **assembly, Jason**

the spirit can find no peace if the body is at war **assembly, Ash**

The morning sun swept over hills and valleys, caressing cabin roofs dotted throughout the landscape and glinting off windows as though greeting those that dwelled within. **assembly, Hope**

The flower reminded me of myself. Not its beauty, but its thirst for light and its aching solitude. It was all by itself without any of its kind to keep it company. **assembly, Hope**

“For not seeing the treasure in our midst. For lashing out at an innocent, hurting female who did not deserve my ire. For being cruel when cruelty was undeserved.” **assembly, Lucien**

“We have time. I can wait for your forgiveness, but know that you have mine.” **assembly, Lucien**

I would not see the tenuous bond between us broken. Not again. No longer would the troublesome vixen suffer my vicious tongue. No longer would I rebuff her hesitant overtures of friendship. She would be mine. Utterly and completely. Her secrets mine to protect; her fears mine to conquer; her lies . . . the web of intrigue and falsehoods and carefully nurtured misdirection would be mine to unravel, mine to explore, mine to obfuscate until no other would ever be able to uncover what I had uncovered. Until no other would ever know her like I did. What was vulnerable, I would make impenetrable. Unbreakable. Unflinching and unafraid. I would shield her from harm . . . And from myself. Protecting her from the virulent emotions that had been warring ever since the female had entered our lives was imperative to her safety. Preserving my armor was preserving her, for if I were ever left without it, if I were to ever grow weak enough to succumb to love, Hope would be exposed to every piece of darkness in my blackened soul. And not even the gods could help her then. **assembly, Lucien**

She possessed qualities I’d never before encountered in one of her gender. Unfailing honor. Unwavering kindness. An unflinching belief in doing what was right. Time and time again, she had proven my suspicions wrong, proven she was as unskilled a deceiver as I was a master of its many subtle forms. Her lies were poorly crafted, emerging like stumbling, newborn foals unable to find their feet. **assembly, Lucien**

If honesty were the finest wine, then Hope’s flavor was suffused with its sharp tang, imbued with its mouth watering aroma, steeped in its fragrant spice. But it was also laced by beguiling mysteries and a distinct dishonesty that tasted achingly similar to regret. **assembly, Lucien**

“Take care with your words, female. Even a venial slip of the tongue can tempt the devil into wicked deeds.” **assembly, Lucien**

We guard those secrets lest the thirst for power brings others to our doorstep.” **assembly, Lucien**

“But times are changing and we must change with them or end up dusty relics, forgotten and irrelevant to new ways of life.” **assembly, Ash**

But then I looked at her, at her translucent skin, at her trembling lips, at the legs that no longer had the power to keep her upright and the chest that shook with the force of her too-quiet grief. She knelt before me, bleeding from a thousand invisible wounds, exposing a thousand twisted scars. And when she averted her eyes, silent tears leaving silver tracks under the moon’s light, the dead thing in my chest violently shattered. **assembly, Lucien**

The flickering hush of her voice was intolerable. It quivered like a flame that had withstood wind and rain and a lifetime of adversity, so weary it was only a gentle breeze away from perishing. **assembly, Lucien**

“Because cruelty is not an affliction that affects everyone. Where there is dark, there is also light. Where there is oppression, there is fight. **assembly, Ash**

“Show me a creature that sits idly by and allows others to abuse it, and I will show you a creature devoid of a soul.” When Hope only shuddered in response, Lucien went on. “Even the lowest animals on this earth feel pain, my Hope. And while they may choose to flee if confronted by danger, back them into a corner, hurt them, and they will show you their teeth.” **assembly, Hope**

Each heartbeat bled for all she had endured, all she still endured with the quiet grace of one who held the world blameless despite all the cause she had to rage against its cruel injustice. **assembly, Ash**

For those words . . . those words were a knife that had impaled our little bird’s fragile heart and stunted its growth. Not her capabilities to love others—our Hope had that in abundance—but her ability to love herself. To forgive herself. To learn, as all children do, that while some mistakes can change the course of a life, they are also a part of it. No wound, no matter how deep, was meant to be open and aching forever. **assembly, Ash**

Yet she hadn’t been spared. Youth offered no mercy, pledged no leniency, guaranteed neither grace nor compassion **assembly, Lucien**

Had she begged as I’d once begged? Wept as I’d once wept? Pleaded for mercy in a place where mercy did not exist? **assembly, Lucien**

I did not care that they were many. I did not care about weapons or spells or traps with silver teeth. I would trade, barter, extort and demand until the Hunter scourge was forever wiped off this world. **assembly, Lucien**

If Ruarc was my rock, the safest place on earth and the first to make me trust, Jason was my sun. Every day he shone brighter. Every day he brought me smiles and laughter. When I’d thought the art of laughing lost to me forever, he’d somehow pulled me out of the dark and bathed me in the light of his humor and warmth. Without him . . . **assembly, Jason**

Time to put her out of my mind once and for all. Before she destroyed me, and I, in turn, destroyed her. **assembly, Lucien**

Too busy raging against emotions I had not felt in centuries, I had dismissed her feelings as of little consequence—more concerned by rebuilding my armor than seeing how my words destroyed hers. **assembly, Lucien**

Quickly, before the agonizing sense of loss sent me to my knees before a female who deserved better than the promises longing to spill from my mouth, I gathered all my mental strength and rebuilt as much as I could of my fortress of ice. For once, not to protect myself, but to protect her. **assembly, Lucien**

might did make right. Or not right, but it certainly gave people who had power an excuse to hurt those who didn’t. It had happened to me, and I wasn’t naive enough to think mine had been an isolated incident. **assembly, Hope**

I’d make her see herself the way I did; as the only truly luminous star that lit the dark night that's always been my life. **assembly, Jason**

Every twitch of an eyelid, every half step, every denied shrug and tense muscle told a story. Sometimes in pieces, other times with picture and sound. A myriad of stories, endless revelations, a sea of secrets. **assembly, Lucien**

He was both a demon’s thirst for vengeance and an angel’s righteous wrath; as exquisite in his beauty as he was deadly in his cruelty. **assembly, Hope**