-Żadna dusza nie rodzi się nikczemna. Istnieją pewne skłonności, tendencje, ale tak jak węgiel pod ciśnieniem i ogniem zmienia się w diament, tak presja i ból mogą zmienić duszę w coś straszliwego.

[...]
She’d get to be part of his life for as long as he let her be.
That last one was probably anathema to today’s feminists, but she couldn’t help the way that appealed to her. In such a short time, he’d oddly become her center.
Even arguing with the stubborn man was exhilarating.

[...]
Rune studied the woman across from him. He stayed in the shadows deliberately, keeping his distance.
The grainy image distorted by ice and rock and weathering hadn’t done her justice. Even now, awareness tightened in his belly as he took in a gamine face made more piquant by the short cut of her dark hair. Like a human-sized pixie had magically poofed into his domain. He practically expected to see a trail of glitter in her wake. Large peridot-colored eyes gazed back at him, light green and shockingly vibrant against lightly tanned and freckled skin, putting him in mind of new leaves in the spring.
Hadyn… The name suited her. It meant little fire, and she had to be a firecracker to come chasing him up here alone.

[...]
-You saved our lives. Do you think we want to repay that by putting you at risk like this?
-I have to run anyway,” she pointed out softly. -But even if I didn’t, it’s not about owing each other anything. This is about standing strong for the people we love. That is what a community is about. It’s not the laws, or the leaders, or even the need to barter and trade. It’s about living your life with someone beside you who says nothing is going to hurt you or take from you or threaten you. Not while I’m around.
Elijah and Lyndi.

[...]
Alliance has come for the only family she has left. It’s a good thing she was raised by dragons, because the only one who can help her save them is a traitor she’d be smart to fear.
Especially when his dragon decides she’s theirs.

[...]
What was wrong with him? Dragons’ mates were found among human women who showed dragon sign, not among female-born shifters who were already dragons themselves. A dragon and his mate’s soul-deep connection was forged in fire when he turned her. Every dragon prayed and waited for the day he’d meet his mate, a craving that went deeper than every other instinct they were born with. His dragon was making no sense, wanting to claim this woman. They wouldn’t be able to bond if he tried it.

[...]
Calm down. Calm the fuck down.He was right that she needed to. But how the hell was she supposed to do that when her boys had been threatened and she was supposed to be mated to that slimeball who wanted to “tame her fiery spirit?” She wanted to scream her horror to the world, but that wouldn’t do her any good, either.

Przyganiał najbardziej uparty w historii kocioł najbardziej upartemu w historii garnkowi.

[...]
coś jednocześnie miękkiego i szorstkiego owijając ją jak kokon, trzymając ogień w środku.
W tym samym czasie obrazy przelatywały jej przez myśl, jak szybko przewracanie kartek książki z obrazkami lub coś w rodzaju starego filmu, wszystko rozedrgane i trudne do rozszyfrowania. Tylko że tym razem zamiast czystej udręki i przerażenia, które zwykle towarzyszyły przytłaczającemu przypływowi, dotyk Branda przeobraził ból w uczucie bardziej przypominające bycie miotaną przez ryczące fale na oceanie, pozostawioną na łaskę miażdżącej siły większej od niej samej.

[...]
-Spojrzałem na nią i moje centrum się przesunęło. Podobnie jak to, co było dla mnie ważne.
Ludzie musieli czuć się podobnie, gdy odkryli, że słońce jest centrum układu słonecznego, a nie ziemia.

[...]
-Czy miałeś na myśli to, co powiedziałeś? - zapytała.
Rzucił jej spojrzenie.
-O czym?
-O tym, że klan jest czymś więcej niż tylko królem, czymś więcej niż jedną osobą.
Więc dlatego dziwnie na niego spojrzała?
-Tak.
Sky i Ladon.

[...]
Before the phoenix had foreseen that any man who dared to kill Airk would die not long after.
Now he sat imprisoned in the most fortified dragon stronghold in existence in a room with walls turned to glass and then magically warded to act like a one-way mirror, allowing those inside an unimpeded view, even through the ice and snow coating the rock, and preventing those outside from perceiving that anything but rock and ice and snow lay there in the first place.

[...]
Podszedł o kilka kroków bliżej.
-Z tego, co widzę, jesteś kobietą, która zrobi wszystko dla ludzi, których kocha. A ta „szalona” rzecz to twój sposób na trzymanie ludzi w defensywie.
No cóż, cholera. Powinna być zirytowana, że tak łatwo ją odczytał.

[...]
-Więc…wierzysz we mnie, ale nie chcesz pozwolić mi się do siebie zbliżyć.
Krótko mówiąc.
- Ludzie mogą cię skrzywdzić tylko wtedy, gdy pozwolisz im się zbliżyć na tyle, żeby mogli to zrobić.
-Kto kiedykolwiek był na tyle blisko ciebie, żeby zrobić ci krzywdę? .
Ladon i Sky.

[...]
Brand zajął miejsce kierowcy w całkowitej ciszy. Po roku Kasia nie była fanką ciszy, ale jej nie przerwała. Siedział tam przez długi moment, przesuwając dłonie po kierownicy, niemal w pieszczocie.
Przyszło uświadomienie. Nie ma mowy. Nie mogła.
-Wzięłam twój samochód?
Jego szczęka stwardniała.
-Tak, zrobiłaś.
Kasia skrzywiła się. Oczywiście, że tak. Ponieważ najwyraźniej los miał coś przeciwko niej.
-Przynajmniej nie muszę się martwić o zwrot – zażartowała, choć nie wydawał się dla niej typem, który doceniłby jej komentarz - Spójrz na jasną stronę.
Nie zrobił tego.
-Proponuję, żebyś przez jakiś czas ze mną nie rozmawiała.
Kasia i Brand.

[...]
Ladon groaned inwardly. Gaining Skylar’s approval would likely be the most challenging thing he’d ever tried to accomplish, taking the Blue Throne included. Forget wooing and forget comfort levels.

Murderer.
As he lay in her ashes, Finn made himself a vow. He would never try to mate again. He would never risk more of his soul or another woman’s life to this excruciating, unbearable death.
He’d rather cut out his heart and feed it to the fire himself.

[...]
No way in all the realms of hell was he letting this phoenix out of his sight until she was bound to him—not only to claim her for his people, but to keep her out of the clutches of every other king. He needed her to be his. He’d have to work around her hating dragon shifters issue.
The shock of there being more than one phoenix still shook him to his core. Legend had it only one phoenix ever existed at a time, each mother passing her powers on to her only daughter either through death or with the conscious choice to let those powers go.
There was supposed to be more... .

[...]
-Take it from me, -she said. -I watched my mother pine for my father all her life. Love is precious. A gift from the gods and the fates. Not perfect. Not easy. But don’t turn your back on it just because of a few ‘what ifs.
She slid a quick peek in Airk’s direction, not wanting him to think she was saying this for him. He’d said no. She respected that. But he wasn’t paying her any attention, anyway.
Returning her gaze to the couple, she tipped her head.
- Not for all the what ifs in the world would I walk away if I’d found someone who looked at me the way that he looks at you.

[....]
The woman froze. Except she thawed as quickly as she’d turned to ice, her glacial eyes turning darker blue as her gaze skated over him. The way she took him in, with an almost childlike innocence—it was as though she didn’t know he was standing there watching her check him out. What did she see, anyway? A hardened soldier who’d achieved more than anyone had ever expected he could?
Her aura of soul-stirring susceptibility reached through the glass and wrapped around him. A conflagration of emotions exploded inside his chest—dark need, harsh possessiveness, and the strangest sense of knowing. The flood of it left him almost dizzy.

[...]
Hate for the man who’d murdered her father and grandparents before she was born. Who’d sent her mother into hiding, pregnant and alone, until he tracked her down and killed her, too. More horrors that she’d learned recently could be laid at his feet. All in pathological pursuit of a crown and power.
Meira would do anything to help stop him.

[...]
-Nie musisz być odważna i robić wszystkiego sama przez cały czas, wiesz.
Meira zmarszczyła nos.
-Nie jestem odważna. Moje siostry są, ale ja muszę udawać.
Samael nachylił się bliżej.
-Powiem ci sekret.
Czekała, wpatrując się w jego surowe rysy twarzy i próbując zrozumieć otaczające ją emocje.
-Wszyscy musimy udawać, że jesteśmy odważni – powiedział.
Meira prychnęła niedelikatnie.
-Niektórzy bardziej niż inni.

[...]
-You do not see yourself as useful? - he asked.
She glanced at the door she’d closed behind them.
-A dormant phoenix with no powers? -she said in a low voice, because the dormant part was still a secret. -I’m no more helpful than a human. Fragile and in the way.
He stiffened as though he didn’t like that description.
-Power does not always come from a physical ability.
-It doesn’t come from physical weakness, either,- she pointed out. Then shook herself out of what could become a big funk if she let it. - But I refuse to be sidelined.

[...]
- Mówiłam ci. Zawsze się boję.
Potrząsnął głową, nienawidząc tego, że tak się postrzegała.
-Strach nie czyni cię tchórzem, kochanie. To czyni cię mądrym. Tylko głupiec nie odczuwa strachu.

[...]
-I told you. I’m always afraid.
He shook his head, hating that she viewed herself that way.
-Fear doesn’t make you a coward, love. It makes you smart. Only a fool doesn’t experience fear.
A twinkle brightened her eyes, chasing out the blue, and she gave him a cockeyed stare.
-Are you calling Skylar a fool ?
Samael barked a laugh.
-Let’s just say I’m glad you’re my mate. I don’t think I could handle the rash sister.

[...]
However, Fallon had serious doubts that this particular woman was meant for him. Only one woman in all his centuries had caught his attention. A human he could never have. Plus, with his own soul and the new mate’s life on the line, no way would he risk it unless he was sure. Not after witnessing his brother go through picking the wrong woman. That kind of pain broke a man.

[...]
Maddie still had doubts. To be rushed into finding her own mate, and to do so through this weird process, seemed wrong. Not that she had much choice. To become fully dragon, her mate had to turn her. A process that could kill her if she chose the wrong man. But if she didn’t find him quickly, she’d only continue to get worse. Sparks shot off her with more frequency. She’d have lit this place up by now if most everything wasn’t fireproof.
So…find a mate or die trying. No pressure, or anything.

[...]
Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. We’ll figure the rest out. Together.

[...]
Being an enforcer for the clans was the most important thing in his life. He had to prove himself every single day. Because clans rejected orphans, he’d met resistance to his ambitions at every fucking turn. A glass ceiling he intended to shatter, paving the way for the others like himself.

[...]
Jak Kasia dała się złapać zmiennokształtnym smokom — smokom klanowym, a następnie zaprowadzić do jednej z ich twierdz, przekraczało granice zrozumienia Skylar.
Ich matka nauczyła je o wiele więcej, a teraz Skylar musiała wyjść z ukrycia, żeby to naprawić.
Dostanie się do cytadeli Ben Nevis było łatwe, kiedy byli rozproszeni walką.