Alina Quotes

That last night," she said quietly. "Why did you say you hoped you'd never see me again?"
He hadn't said it; it had been his last thought when he'd turned to leave. But he didn't seem to notice the discrepancy as he looked at her now.
"Because," he began before faltering, his voice leaving on a sigh. His left hand reached to rake a path through his hair, scattering the inky thickness in all directions. "The more I learn of you, the more difficult it is to stay away. ~ Angela B. Wade

They say that rape is the only crime in which the victim has to prove her innocence. And I want you to know, I believe in your innocence. You don't have to prove anything to me. ~ Alina Klein

What writing means to me?
-Releasing my wolves...
(Natasa Alina Culea) ~ Nata?a Alina Culea

I sought Morozova amplifiers for you Alina, so that we can rule as equals ~ Leigh Bardugo

Where were we a year ago, Bink?" "In Vienna." "In Vienna, swiving opera singers." They shared a moment of silent recollection. "And now you're an earl. A man of responsibility. You'll want a wife. ~ Alina K. Field

Keep alone; keep alive. ~ Angela B. Wade

And I'll keep marching because the firebird is all I can give you. No money. No army. No mountaintop stronghold." He shouldered his pack. "This is all I have to offer. The same old trick." He stepped out into the rain. I didn't know if I wanted to run after him to apologize or knock him into the mud. ~ Leigh Bardugo

He is so beautiful that he makes a part of my soul weep. I don't understand those tears. They aren't like the ones I cry for Alina. They aren't made of water and salt. I think they're made of blood. ~ Karen Marie Moning

I wasn't afraid of you, Alina. I was afraid of losing you. That girl you were becoming didn't need me anymore, but she's who you were always meant to be."
"Power hungry? Ruthless?"
"Strong." He looked away. "Luminous. And maybe a little ruthless too. That's what it takes to rule. Ravka is broken, Alina. I think it always has been. The girl I saw in the chapel could change that. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I have loved you all my life, Mal," I whispered through my tears. "There is no end to our story. ~ Leigh Bardugo

He leaned against the window, and the gilded frame came into sharp focus. "Do you think it would be any different with your tracker beside you? With that Lantsov pup?"
"Yes," I said simply.
"Because you would be the strong one?"
"Because they're better men than you."
"You might make me a better man."
"And you might make me a monster. ~ Leigh Bardugo

They say that girls are the ones who want fairy tail endings, but then again, who are the authors of fairy tales? mostly men ... ~ Alina Radoi

You want," the Darkling mocked. I want to watch your tracker die slowly with my knife in his heart. I want to let the sea swallow you both. But our fates are entwined now, Alina, and there's nothing either of us can do about that. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The two officers followed Mom out of the kitchen, passing untouched rolls, stuffing, and a turkey resting in its own congealed juices on a platter. I stared at our spoiled Thanksgiving dinner. ~ Alina Klein

I've seen what you truly are," said the Darkling, "and I've never turned away. I never will. Can he say the same? ~ Leigh Bardugo

I'm a prince, Alina. I can't afford to be myself. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I wake, the lump of last night
hiking a trail through my throat.

[from "Those Who Love Raptors"] ~ Alina Stefanescu

Tell him you see me when he takes you in his arms ~ Leigh Bardugo

He has served countless kings, faked countless deaths, bided his time, waiting for you. ~ Leigh Bardugo

In that moment Alina Sculcuvant knew that of all life's great journeys, perhaps the greatest was to come home, and to know the place for the first time. ~ David Clement-Davies

Who are you, and what are you playing at?"
"Nikolai Lantsov, but please don't make me recite my titles again. It's no fun for anybody, and the only important one is 'prince.'"
"And what about Sturmhond?" I asked.
"I'm also Sturmhond, commander of the Volkvolny, scourge of the True Sea."
"Scourge?"
"Well, I'm vexing at the very least."
I shook my head. "Impossible."
"Improbable."
"This is not the time to try to be entertaining. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I roll my eyes. Well, if I plan on doing anything exciting I promise to give fair warning so just ... take a nap or something. ~ Leigh Bardugo

We are too busy listening to our thoughts that we don't hear the wonderful sounds surrounding us ... ~ Alina Radoi

Whether I was a Saint or a queen or the most powerful Grisha who ever lived, I would always turn to him. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Distinguish yourself, my mom had told Alina and me, in an age where girls often make themselves too available to boys, by making him work a little for your attention. He'll think he's won a prize when he gets it, and he'll work that much harder to keep it. Boys turn into men and men put a premium on what's hardest to get. ~ Karen Marie Moning

What do you two talk about, anyway?" I asked curiously. I still didn't quite understand Genya's fascination with the Fabrikator.

She sighed. "The usual. Life. Love. The melting point of iron ore. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Here's the deal, you answer all of my questions, and I'll bring down some blood for you. You lie to me, you hesitate, you don't say anything," I pressed the knife deeper. "I. Will. Kill. You. Is that clear? ~ Alina Meuangkhot

If I told you I could give you life would you leave the boundaries of your mind? I bet you never even knew
that there's a universe inside of you. Can I take your pain and make it go away? Would you let me be your getaway? ~ Alina Baraz & Galimatias

You just punched a prince, Alina. I guess we can add one more act of treason to our list."
I shook out my sore hand. My knuckles smarted. "First of all, are we so sure he really is a prince? And second, you're just jealous."
"Of course I'm jealous. I thought I was going to get to punch him. That isn't the point. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I would murder the only person I'd ever loved and who had ever loved me. I'd dive back into battle wearing his bones. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You don't want to be doing this.
This is the only thing I want to be doing ~ Leigh Bardugo

Why don't you just admit that you wanted to belong to him? Why don't you admit that part of you still does? ~ Leigh Bardugo

I've waged the war you forced me to, Alina," said the Darkling. "If you hadn't run from me, the Second Army would still be intact. All those Grisha would still be alive. Your tracker would be safe and happy with his regiment. When will it be enough? When will you let me stop? ~ Leigh Bardugo

I would have been different too, without you. Weaker, reckless." He smiled slightly. "Afraid of the dark." He brushed the tears from my cheeks. I wasn't sure when they'd started. "But no matter who or what I was, I would have been yours. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Just you and me."
"Really?"
"It's always just you and me, Alina. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Don't give up on me, Alina" … "I'm lost, baby. I'm so fuckin' lost and you're the only one to keep me from disintegrating." He lowered his head, lips a breath away from me as he murmured, "I can't ever lose you again."
"I'm here, Connor." I whispered. "I'm right here. ~ Nashoda Rose

Francine came in and drew blood from a vein in my arm. I hardly felt it when the needle went in. I watched a bright red stream spurt into a small glass vial, watched as the vial was exchanged rapidly for a second one. I was mesmerized. ~ Alina Klein

I'm the Sun Summoner. It gets dark when I say it does. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Did you tell him, Alina? Does the boy know how willing you were to give yourself to me? Did you tell him what I showed you in the dark?"
A wave of shame rushed through me and the glowing light faltered. The Darkling laughed. ~ Leigh Bardugo

That first winter, when it was time for her friends to leave, the girl ventured out into the show to say goodbye, and the stunning raven-haired Squaller handed her another gift.
"A blue kefta," said the math teacher, shaking her head. "What would she do with that?"
"Maybe she knew a Grisha who died," replied the cook, taking note of the tears that filled the girl's eyes. They did not see the note that read, You will always be one of us. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Tell me, Alina, has he claimed you yet?"
"Claimed me? Like a peninsula? ~ Leigh Bardugo

I will say one thing about those males, there is never a dull moment." Peri suddenly appeared causing everyone to jump.
"Bloody hell," Jen barked.
"Couldn't you send out some sort of signal that you're about to appear out of thin air?" Lilly asked.
"What do you expect me to do ... fart just before I appear so the smell alerts you?" Peri took a seat next to Alina and crossed her legs, appearing regal despite her crude words.
"Why do you say we would be alerted by the smell, rather than the sound?" Sally asked.
Peri smiled. "I think you humans call them silent but deadly. ~ Quinn Loftis

I'll get them out and come back. I promise."
"On your word as a cutthroat and a pirate?"
He touched my cheek once, briefly. "Privateer."
Another explosion rocked the grounds.
"Let's go!" shouted Mal.
As we sprinted into the tunnel, I glanced back and saw Nikolai silhouetted against the purple twilight. I wondered if I'd ever see him again. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Maybe I would wake tomorrow and find that it had all been a dream, that Alexei was still alive and Mal was unhurt, that no one had tried to kill me, that I'd never met the King and Queen or seen the Apparat, or felt the Darkling's hand on the nape of my neck. Maybe I would wake to smell the campfires burning, safe in my own clothes, on my little cot, and I could tell Mal all about this strange and terrifying, but very beautiful, dream. I rubbed my thumb over the scar in my palm and heard Mal's voice saying, "We'll be okay, Alina. We always are." "I hope so, Mal," I whispered into my pillow and let my tears carry me to sleep. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Love you so damn much, Alina." My heart nearly burst through my chest. "I don't want to hurt you. Tell me I won't hurt you."
"You won't hurt me, Connor. I trust you." The trust in himself was lacking but I had enough for both of us. ~ Nashoda Rose

You're mad."

"I know it pleases you to think so. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Babies? I want babies. They are so sweet and succulent. ~ Alina Meuangkhot

The problem is that we always look for the missing piece of the puzzle instead of finding a place for the one in our hand ... ~ Alina Radoi

Will you say it?

"Aleksander"

His grin faded and his grey eyes seemed to flicker.

"Again."

"Aleksander ~ Leigh Bardugo

Why waste my anger on you when the fault is mine? I should have anticipated another betrayal from you, one more mad grasp at some kind of childish ideal. But I seem to be a victim of my own wishes where you are concerned." His expression hardened. "What have you come here for, Alina?"
I answered him honestly. "I wanted to see you."
I caught the briefest glimpse of surprise before his face shuttered again. "There are two thrones on that dais. You could see me any time you liked. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Someone to mourn me...No grave...for them to desecrate. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I have loved you all my life, Mal. There is no end to our story. ~ Leigh Bardugo

A moment later the boy whispered, "I don't think you're ugly."
"Shhhh!" the girl hissed. But hidden by the deep shadows of the cupboard, she smiled ~ Leigh Bardugo

Close your mouth before something flies in, I snapped. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I'm by myself," she said finally. "No family to speak of."
"I see." Leaning forward again, he rested his arms against the table. "That must be rather difficult."
"Sometimes."
"And lonely, I imagine. Perhaps that is why you came here tonight?"
Her jaw popped under the strain of maintaining decorum. "First: I said I was alone, not lonely. There's a big difference. And second: is that really why you think I'm here?"
"I do not know what to think. I know you must have reasons for being here other than what you have already hinted at. Reasons important enough to make an otherwise intelligent woman not only bring food to a stranger so late at night, but also accept his invitation to sit inside an empty motel room without a second thought."
"Why don't you just call me a hooker while you're at it? ~ Angela B. Wade

I don't want lies between us, Alina."
"How many lies have you told me, Sturmhond? How many secrets have you kept until you were ready to share them?"
"Prince's prerogative?"
"If a mere prince gets a pass, so does a living saint."
"Are you going to make a habit of winning arguments? It's very unbecoming."
"Was this an argument?"
"Obviously not. I don't lose arguments. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The first time I'd entered the Fold, I'd feared the darkness and my own death. Now, darkness was nothing to me, and I knew that soon death would seem like a gift. I'd always known I would have to return to the Unsea, but as I looked back, I realized that some part of me had anticipated it. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The arteries of the city gradually begin to be crossed by cars with drivers who are searching for something, half asleep. Their automatic gestures reveal the monotony in which they bath like in a warm muddy puddle, like a drop of water in the fractured asphalt, sometimes dreaming of being a drop of ocean. ~ Natașa Alina Culea

And I'm the only one with a plan," Fitz reminded them.
"Hey- I've got plans," Keefe argued.
"Plans that don't involve tormenting Dame Alina," Fitz clarified.
"But those are always the best plans! ~ Shannon Messenger

We are all time travelers, we just don't know it yet.The only problem is that we only have a one way ticket, destination: FUTURE. ~ Alina Radoi

It had only been two days – two days – since he'd seen her last, and yet he'd missed her every step of the way. How was that possible? To miss someone you'd scarcely had in your life at all? For all his knowledge, he had no answer, only knew that every moment spent by her side made it that much more difficult to leave again. To accept the incoming battering of noise, the necessary barrenness of his life. The loneliness.

He could hear the music of her voice so clearly as she spoke now, every inflection, every intonation. And the world around them, too – birds on the wing and children laughing. Her presence was a continual surprise, one that made him by turns calm and edgy and covetous. And mindful, his responsibilities, self-appointed though they were, crowding back into his mind on a silent sigh. The Descent was still closing in on him, and Dmitri still lived, which meant there was too much left to do and no time for distraction. But still... ~ Angela B. Wade

Why are you taking this so personally?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"I have no idea. I've always been beautiful."

"And humble too? ~ Leigh Bardugo

I told them you hate herring."
"Why?"
"And that you love plum cake. And that Ana Kuya took a switch to you when you ruined your spring slippers jumping in puddles."
I winced. "Why would you tell them all that?"
"I wanted to make you human," he said. "All they see when they look at you is the Sun Summoner. They see a threat, another powerful Grisha like the Darkling. I want them to see a daughter or a sister or a friend. I want them to see Alina. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Call me that again," she growled. "And I'll gut you, rip out your spine through your nose, yank your spleen out of your asshole and feed it to you," she hissed. "Got it? ~ Alina Meuangkhot

Sometimes music isn't just a bunch of sounds and lyrics, sometimes it's more than that: a time machine ... ~ Alina Radoi

The prose is deeply inspired by the tension between post- totalitarianism and consumer democracy. I am constantly probing the soft fleshy parts of the American dream. ~ Alina Stefanescu

Altizer distinguishes between melancholy as a condition marked principally by a sense of guilt, even a delirium of guilt, and the contemporary manifestation of depression or apathy, from which guilt is totally absent. ~ Alina Feld

We can't choose our blood, but we can choose those who run importance in our lives. ~ Alina Baker

You can't control the Fold. It has to be destroyed."

"Careful, Alina," he said with a slight smile. "I've had the same thought about you. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I will stip away all that you know, all that you love....
Until you have no shelter byt me ~ Leigh Bardugo

Mal snickered.
"What's so funny?"
"I just pictured the Darkling being cornered by a sweaty duchess trying to have her way with him. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I hope you don't expect fairness from me, Alina. It isn't one of my specialties. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I took a breath. "Your highness - "
"Nikolai," he corrected. "But I've also been known to answer to 'sweetheart' or 'handsome. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You come back to train with Botkin. I hit big girl same as little girl."
"That's very egalitarian of you." I said, and hurried Tamar out of the stables before Botkin decided to show me just how fair-minded he could be. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Scars made good reminders. ~ Leigh Bardugo

If at my age i still spent time wondering about people I'd never manage to get around to so much as brushing my teeth ~ Alina Bronsky

I'm not what you think I am," I whispered desperately.
The Darkling stepped closer to me and said, his voice so low that only I could hear, "I doubt you have any idea what you are. ~ Leigh Bardugo

He'd wanted me to believe in his ruthlessness.
Then I remembered his words from so long ago: Make me your villain. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I'm sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Dying for someone isn't the hard thing. The man that dies escapes. Plain and simple. Game over. End of pain. Alina was the lucky one. Try living for someone. Through it all-good, bad, thick, thin, joy, suffering. ~ Karen Marie Moning

It's true," I said softly. "You are stronger, wiser, infinite in experience." I leaned forward and whispered, my lips brushing the shell of his ear. "But I am an apt pupil. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I told him the story of the day I'd been mending pottery with one of the maids in the kitchen at Keramzin, waiting for him to return from one of the hunting trips that had taken him from home more and more frequently. I'd been fifteen, standing at the counter, vainly trying to glue together the jagged pieces of a blue cup. When I saw him crossing the fields, I ran to the doorway and waved. He caught sight of me and broke into a jog.
I had crossed the yard to him slowly, watching him draw closer, baffled by the way my heart was skittering around in my chest. Then he'd picked me up and swung me in a circle, and I'd clung to him, breathing in his sweet, familiar smell, shocked by how much I'd missed him. Dimly, I'd been aware that I still had a shard of that blue cup in my hand, that it was digging into my palm, but I didn't want to let go.
When he finally set me down and ambled off into the kitchen to find his lunch, I had stood there, my palm dripping in blood, my head still spinning, knowing that everything had changed.
Ana Kuya had scolded me for getting blood on the clean kitchen floor. She'd bandaged my hand and told me it would heal. But I knew it would just go on hurting. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I bet you never even knew, I see the universe inside of you. ~ Alina Baraz

The deal was only for kicking. It did not prohibit slapping, punching, biting or cutting you in half. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The boy held her tighter, murmured soft words to lull her to sleep.
"It's only a nightmare," he whispered. "The dreams will stop."
He didn't understand. The dreams were the only place it was safe to use her power now, and she longed for them. ~ Leigh Bardugo

No, Alina. You came here for Ravka. For the firebird. To lead the Second Army." He tapped the sun over his heart. "I came here for you. You're my flag. You're my nation. But that doesn't seem to matter anymore. ~ Leigh Bardugo

I stay back, because if i get close I'll have to roll him over and look in his eyes, and what if they're empty like Alina's were ? Then I'll know he's gone, like I knew she was gone, too far beyond my reach to ever hear my voice again, to hear me say, I'm sorry, Alina. I wish I'd called more often; I wish I'd heard the truth beneath our vapid sister talk; I wish I'd come to Dublin and fought beside you, or raged at you, because you were acting from fear, too, Alina, not hope at all, or you would have trusted me to help you. Or maybe just apologize, Barrons, for being too young to have my priorities reffined, like you, because I haven't suffered whatever the hell it is you suffered, and then shove you up against a wall and kiss you until you can't breathe, do what I wanted to do the first day I saw you there in your bloody damned bookstore. Disturb you like you disturbed me, make you see me, make you want me-pink me!-shatter your self-control, bring you crashing to your knees in front of me, even though I told myself I'd never want a man like you, that you were too old, too carnal, more animal than man, with one foot in the swamp and no desire to come all the way out, when the truth was that I was terrified by what you made me feel. ~ Karen Marie Moning

With a start, I realized that the room smelled like him. I had never even noticed that he had a scent. I shut my eyes and breathed deeply. What was it? The crisp edge of a winter wind. Bare branches. The smell of absence, the smell of night. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Who are you?" Mal asked furiously.
"That's a complicated question."
"Actually, it's pretty straightforward," I said, springing to my feet. "But it does require telling the truth. Something you seem thoroughly incapable of."
"Oh, I can do it," Sturmhond said, shaking water from one of his boots. "I'm just not very good at it. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The police officers were carrying wrinkled clothing in their gloved hands when they returned. They spread the items out on the table for me to identify. For a moment I saw his hands on my panties, flinging them to the floor. ~ Alina Klein

At least I have the comfort of believing Alina is in heaven. That maybe someday I'll gaze into a child's eyes and see a piece of my sister's should in there, because the fact is I do believe we go on. Then again, maybe I'll never see a trace of her, but I still feel her. I don't know how to explain it. It's as if she's only a slight shift of reality away from me sometimes, in what I think of as the slipstream, and if I could only slip sideways, too, I could join her. And one day I think I will slip sideways and get to see her again, if only as ships passing on our way to new destinations in the same vas, magnificent sea. ~ Karen Marie Moning

My legs gave way and the Darkling caught me up against his body with one surprisingly strong arm.
"I guess you only look like a mouse," he whispered in my ear, and then beckoned to one of his personal guard. "Take her," he said, handing me over to the oprichnik who reached out his arm to support me. I felt myself flush at the indignity of being handed over like a sack of potatoes, but I was too shaky and confused to protest. Blood was running down my arm from the cut the Darkling had given me. ~ Leigh Bardugo

My soul was not meant to be in a cage. Not then, and not now.
-Alina Chase ~ Megan Miranda

I gulped and took deep breaths to keep myself from puking all over my baby sister. I could smell last night's vomit in my hair. I looked around-ugh, this was going to be a nightmare to clean up. ~ Alina Klein

Alina Starkov was our age when she was martyred. She was just a girl, and she sacrificed herself to save Ravka and destroy the Shadow Fold. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Some people don't need the others' approval. They build themselves a pedestal and they climb it. One stupid person is enough to admire them, and you cannot escape their greatness. ~ Natașa Alina Culea

Your highness - "
"Nikolai," he corrected. "But I've also been known to answer to 'sweetheart' or 'handsome.'"
Mal whirled, but I silenced him with a pleading look.
"You need to stop that right now, Nikolai," I said. "Or I'll knock those princely teeth out myself. ~ Leigh Bardugo

You wanted to wear the second amplifier. You have it. You want to go to Os Alta? Fine, we'll go. You say you need the firebird. I'll find a way to get it for you. But when all this is over, Alina, I wonder if you'll still want me. ~ Leigh Bardugo

There are rumors that you died on the Fold. People have been selling off parts of you all over Ravka and West Ravka for months. You're quite the good luck charm."
"Those are supposed to be my fingers?"
"Knuckles, toes, fragments of rib."
I felt sick. I looked around, hoping to spot Mal, needing to see something familiar.
"Of course," Nikolai continued, "if half of those were really your toes, you'd have about a hundred feet. But superstition is a powerful thing. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Mal took a single tentative step toward me. Then he closed the space between us in two long strides. One hand slid around my waist, the other cupped my face. Gently, he titled my mouth up to his.
"Come back to me," he said softly. He drew me to him, but as his lips met mine, something flickered in the corner of my eye. ~ Leigh Bardugo