1
Love is a rebellious bird that nobody can tame.Veronica Rossi
2
I miss you. I miss you. I miss you, I miss you. Be ready, because when I see you, I'll never let you go again.Veronica Rossi
3
What I was trying to say, ” he whispered, “is that I see you in everything. There isn’t a word for you that means enough, because you’re everything to me.Veronica Rossi
4
Fall off your own roof.Veronica Rossi
5
Roar's smile widened. "I know. You missed me." She rolled her eyes. "It's barely been three weeks since I last saw you."" Miserable stretch of time." He said.Veronica Rossi
6
In the afternoon, they stopped to eat on a rocky outcrop. Perry brushed a kiss on her cheek while she was chewing, and she learned that it was the loveliest thing to be kissed for no reason, even while chewing food. It brightened the woods, and the never sky, and everything.Veronica Rossi
7
It's time, Perry". He let her go. She took a step back, taking in his face one last time. His green eyes. The bend in his nose and the scars on his cheek. All the tiny inperfections that made him beautiful. Without a word, she turned and made her way downhill.Veronica Rossi
8
Your voice sounds like a midnight fire. All warm and worn in and golden. I could listen to you talk forever." "I could never do that". She laughed at him. He brought his lips to her ear. "Your scent is like violets early in spring, " he whispered. Then he laughed at himself because though it was true, he sounded like the worst kind of fool.Veronica Rossi
9
She’d fallen into a deep silence once, when the sun appeared, and it was then he’d wondered most what she was thinking.Veronica Rossi
10
His hand snapped shut over the device and then he crossed his arms. Aria stared in horror. Her Smarteye was buried in a Neanderthal’s armpit.Veronica Rossi
11
Her hand holding his for a dozen paces. His, resting on the small of her back for a moment. Touches that had no real purpose but to say I’m here and We are together still.Veronica Rossi
12
She did it, though she hated opera. She hated everything about it. The overblown sense of drama. The violence and lewdness. No one had ever died of heartbreak in Reverie. Betrayal never led to murder. Those things didn’t happen anymore. They had the Realms now. They could experience anything without taking risks. Now, life was Better than Real.Veronica Rossi
13
Without thinking, he reached for her hand. Tucked it against her chest, feeling that was where it should be. Perry's heart slammed against his ribs. She had to feel it.Veronica Rossi
14
He’d pushed it back, where he’d kept the thought for weeks, but it wouldn’t stay. Wouldn’t stop. Wouldn’t let him go.Veronica Rossi
15
If there was no fear, how could there be comfort? Or courage?Veronica Rossi
16
Nobody ever drowned in their own sweat.Veronica Rossi
17
 Then he told Perry that love was like the waves in the sea, gentle and good sometimes, rough and terrible at others, but that it was endless and stronger than the sky and the earth and everything in between.Veronica Rossi
18
Doubters don't mean a damn thing. I doubt it'll rain tomorrow, but that doesn't mean I control the rain. What I think has no bearing on what is. The wise ask questions, Perry. The weak doubt.Veronica Rossi
19
I was trying to help... The more I try to catch up, the farther I fall behind.Veronica Rossi
20
A good dream was something you clung to until the last moment before waking.Veronica Rossi
21
I don't want to play; I want to win. But if you give me the rules, I'll take it from there.Veronica Rossi
22
Just because we failed once doesn't mean we should stop tryingVeronica Rossi
23
She'd survived the outside. She'd survived the Aether and cannibals and wolves. She knew how to love now, and how to let go. Whatever came next, she would survive it, tooVeronica Rossi
24
And it's always better, isn't it, when you discover answers on your own?Veronica Rossi
25
I don't think that incident necessarily defines you as bad. I think it makes you human. And I believe you would have stopped yourself. I think that's what makes a person good. Not that you make mistakes, but that you recognize them. You feel remorse for them. You want to correct them and do better.Veronica Rossi
26
She found it curious and frightening that she could deeply dislike someone she didn’t even know. It wasn’t her. At least, it wasn’t how she used to be.Veronica Rossi
27
Because people are more than emotions. People have thoughts and reasons for doing things.Veronica Rossi
28
When you've been hurt by someone you love like he has, why would you ever seek love out? Why would you risk being hurt again?Veronica Rossi
29
But when a cut is deep, it’s still just flesh beneath.Veronica Rossi
30
They were like her rocks. Imperfect and surprising and maybe better in the long run than certainties. Chances, she thought, were lifeVeronica Rossi
31
She knew how to put one foot in front of the other even when every step hurt. And she knew there was pain in the journey, but there was also great beauty. She'd seen it standing on rooftops and in green eyes and in the smallest, ugliest rock.Veronica Rossi
32
She absorbed the terror and beauty of him and his world. Of every moment over the past days. All of it, filling her up like the first breath she'd ever taken. And never had she loved life more.Veronica Rossi
33
Come back with me, Aria. Be with me.Veronica Rossi
34
We all have the potential to do terrible things. But we also have the potential to overcome our mistakes.Veronica Rossi
35
It was my idea. It's the safest way, but it's strange pretending to be something different. It's like there's a glass wall between us. Like I can't touch him or ... reach him. I don't like the way it feels.Veronica Rossi
36
Do you need me?” she said. She could scout as well as Roar and Brooke, who had already disappeared into the darkness. Perry looked up. His hair was tied back with a leather strip, but a piece fell forward, a blond wave coming to rest at his eyebrow. “You want the truth?” Aria braced herself for a comment about her arm. “Always.” “That’s my answer.Veronica Rossi
37
She knew she could answer it. She knew how to put one foot in front of the other even when every step hurt. And she knew there was pain in the journey, but there was also great beauty. She’d seen it standing on rooftops and in green eyes and in the smallest, ugliest rock. She would find the answer.Veronica Rossi
38
She felt as though she’d found a moment of forever. Like this was how they should’ve always beenVeronica Rossi
39
He had a prince's looks but a pirate's eyes.Veronica Rossi
40
He kisses like a poet. Like he's writing poems on my lips.Veronica Rossi
41
Come thaw my frozen heart, my little arctic kitten.” Unable to resist, Aria jumped in and picked up the next line. “No chance, my yeti man, I’d rather be frostbitten.”“ Let me be your snowman. Come live in my igloo.”“ I’d rather freeze to death than hibernate with you.Veronica Rossi
42
What if this was a sign? Maybe I’m not supposed to be an Outsider.He surprised her by taking her hand and threading his fingers through hers. “You already are an Outsider. You fit everywhere. You just don’t see it yet.” She stared at their hands. He’d never done that before. Roar gave her a droll look. “It’s just odd having you lay your hand on my arm all the time, ” he said, responding to her thoughts. Yes, but this feels intimate. Don’t you think it does? I don’t mean that I think we’re being too intimate. I guess I do. Roar, sometimes it’s really hard to get used to this. Roar flashed a grin. “Aria, this isn’t intimate. If I were being intimate with you, trust me, you’d know.” She rolled her eyes. Next time you say something like that, you should toss a red rose and then leave with a swish of your cape.Veronica Rossi
43
You can’t be miserable when you’re running. It’s such a simple and pure way to feel alive.Veronica Rossi
44
She could have lived every minute she'd had with him better. She should have always spoken the best words she could to him.Veronica Rossi