“
I rolled my eyes. “You have all the subtlety of a melodrama heroine,” I informed him. “And the endurance of a particularly tiny sea slug. Where is your spirit, sir? Where is your grit?” “In my other trousers,” he said, his jaws clenched.
”
”
Deanna Raybourn (A Sinister Revenge (Veronica Speedwell, #8))
“
Taller than most, he stood well over six feet, with hair so dark it appeared jet black in the fading light. Matching brows arched over dark brown eyes and his cheekbones rose high over a square jaw covered with day-old whiskers.
”
”
Coreene Callahan (Warrior's Revenge (Warriors of the Realm, #1))
“
I poisoned my skin,” Genya said harshly, “my lips. So that every time he touched me—” She shuddered slightly and glanced at David. “Every time he kissed me, he took sickness into his body.” She clenched her fists. “He brought this on himself.”
“But the poison would have affected you too,” Nikolai said.
“I had to purge it from my skin, then heal the burns the lye would leave. Every single time.” Her fists clenched. “It was well worth it.”
Nikolai rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Did he force you?"
Genya nodded once. A muscle in Nikolai's jaw ticked.”
-//-
She held up her hands, warding us off. “I don’t want your pity,” she said ferociously. Her voice was raw, wild. We stood there helplessly. “You don’t understand.” She covered her face with her hands. “None of you do.”
“Genya—” David tried.
“Don’t you dare,” she said roughly, tears welling up again. “You never looked at me twice before I was like this, before I was broken. Now I’m just something for you to fix.”
I was desperate for words to soothe her, but before I could find any, David bunched up his shoulders and said, “I know metal.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Genya cried.
David furrowed his brow. “I … I don’t understand half of what goes on around me. I don’t get jokes or sunsets or poetry, but I know metal.” His fingers flexed unconsciously as if he were physically grasping for words. “Beauty was your armor. Fragile stuff, all show. But what’s inside you? That’s steel. It’s brave and unbreakable. And it doesn’t need fixing.
”
”
Leigh Bardugo (Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3))
“
Revenge tightens the heart as much as the jaw. (La vengeance serre le cœur - Autant que la mâchoire)
”
”
Charles de Leusse
“
He gently ran his nose over the edge of my jaw, inhaling me deeply before pulling back, hovering just over my lips.
I wanted to kiss him.
And scent him.
And make love to him.
I hated him so much.
”
”
Kitt Lynn (Until the Moon Ends (Blushing Moon, #1))
“
The necklace, Marcos,” she said firmly, leveling the gun at his heart once more. “I’ll take it now.”
“It’s not here, querida. You waste your time.”
Francesca lowered the gun to point at his groin. “Killing you would be too good. Perhaps I will simply have to deprive the female world of your ability to make love ever again. I am quite a good shot, I assure you.”
She’d learned out of necessity. And though she never wanted to harm another human being, she had no compunction about making this man think she would do so if it meant she could save Jacques.
His voice dropped to a growl. A hateful, angry growl. “You won’t get away with this. Whoever you are, Frankie, I will find you. I will find you and make you wish you’d never met me.”
Her heart flipped in her chest. She ignored it. “I already wish that. Now give me the jewel before you lose the ability to ever have children.”
Bitterness twisted inside her as she said those words. Ironic to threaten someone with something she would never wish on another soul. But she had to be hard, cold, ruthless – just like he was.
He stared at her in impotent fury, his jaw grinding, his beautiful black eyes flashing daggers at her. Very slowly, he reached up with one hand and slipped his bowtie free of its knot.
Then he jerked it loose and let it fall.
”
”
Lynn Raye Harris (The Devil's Heart)
“
this time you’re looking for revenge.” Yes. He wanted revenge. He felt his jaw tighten, his vision focus in. “For Eve.” Ian’s eyes narrowed. “Really? Are you sure about that?” He was sure, and he fucking well deserved revenge. Evans had torn them apart.
”
”
Lexi Blake (On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries, #4))
“
Her jaw dropped. "You - you -"
He chuckled and winked at her. Her ire evaporated like the steam from the pot--coiling and disappearing into the air. When he used his wiles on her, he was tantalizing. With that purely happy look on his face he was devastating.
"You do realize that I will have my revenge?" she said calmly, though her heart was racing.
"I could hope for no less." He flashed her a grin, and she gripped the side of the table to keep from moving closer.
"I dislike you."
"Always a comfort to know." He looked at the kitchen clock, a small mantel piece positioned precariously on a shelf. "Right on time for the night."
She blinked. She supposed it was something of a nightly ritual. "Wouldn't want to disappoint you, your highness."
"Your majesty, if you will.
”
”
Anne Mallory (Three Nights of Sin)
“
I never want to hear that sound again, Juniper.” He gripped the cloth in his hand, his fingers slowly curling into a fist around it. He was shaking his head, his jaw clenched so tight that a vein in his temple was slowly turning black. “I never want to hear the way you sound when you’re in pain like that...when you’re scared like that…” He looked away from me, fixing his smoldering gaze on the far wall. “I slaughtered them all, Juniper. Every single one. I promise you right now that nothing that dares try to hurt you gets to live. Nothing.” His voice became a growl and he closed his eyes, breathing slowly.
”
”
Harley Laroux (Her Soul for Revenge (Souls Trilogy, #2))
“
Words are taking their revenge. One day, they break the seals of the phylacteries, and come swarming out like snakes. Another day, they spurt from the labels of the bottles that had held them prisoner, and spread through the black sky with their pterodactyl-like jaws thrust forward like a saw-blade knife. They sweep straight ahead, and as they kill their masters their cries of vengeance can be heard.
”
”
J.M.G. Le Clézio (The Giants)
“
The big cat’s flame-green eyes were on the plump child not ten feet away from where it lay, lashing its tail. Here was a chance for revenge. One raking blow of unsheathed claws would make up for those tortured months of captivity. Closing his jaws in the man-child’s throat would repay him for the wounds that still smarted where the bullets had grazed his flesh. The puny dog, who was crouching close by, was not even to be considered. ‘The dogs, who had been guarding the sheep and the bull the puma had recently slaughtered, had fled when he spat at them.
”
”
George Watson Little (True Stories of Heroic Dogs)
“
We lunged for each other at the same time and collided, crazy with need and starving for a taste. Warnings and alarms wailed in my mind, but I shut them down. Screw it. I wanted him.
He found my mouth. The thrust of his tongue against mine made my head spin. He tasted like heaven. I kissed him back, nipping, licking, melting against him. It felt so good . . . His lips traced a fiery line from my mouth to the corner of my jaw and down my neck. My whole body sang in warm liquid triumph. His voice was a ragged whisper in my ear. “Only if you want to . . . Say no, and I’ll stop.”
“No,” I whispered to see if he would do it.
Curran pulled back. His eyes were pure need, raw and barely under control. He swallowed. “Okay.”
It was the most erotic thing I had ever seen. I reached for him and slid my hand up his chest, feeling the taut muscle.
He caught my hand and kissed my palm gently. Heated, tightly controlled want shone in his eyes. I pulled my fingers free, pushed from the wall, and kissed his throat just under the jaw. This was bliss. There was no hope for me.
He growled, closing his eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Pulling on Death’s whiskers,” I murmured, letting my tongue play over his skin, rough with stubble. He smelled divine, clean and male. My hands slid up his biceps. His muscles tensed under the light pressure of my fingers. He was trying very, very hard to stand still and I almost laughed. All those times when he’d called me “baby” . . . Revenge was sweet.
“Is that a yes or a no?” he asked.
I slid against him and nipped his bottom lip.
“I’ll take it as a yes.” The steel muscles of his arms flexed under my hands. He grabbed me, hoisted me up onto him, and kissed me, thrusting into my mouth with his tongue in a hot, slick rhythm, greedy and eager. I threw my arms around his neck. His right hand grasped my hair, his left cupped my butt and pushed me closer against him, his erection a hard, hot length across my lap.
Finally—
“Let me in,” Derek growled at the door.
Go away.
The guard said something. Curran’s hand found my breast and caressed the nipple, sending an electric shock through my skin, threatening to melt me . . .
“Yes,” Derek snarled. “I’m a member of the damn team. Ask them.”
“Curran,” I whispered. “Curran!”
He snarled and kept going. The door swung open.
I hit him on the back of the neck. He submerged. Help. I’ve drowned the Beast Lord.
”
”
Ilona Andrews (Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, #3))
“
A quarrel had arisen between the Horse and the Stag, so the Horse came to a Hunter to ask his help to take revenge on the Stag. The Hunter agreed but said: “If you desire to conquer the Stag, you must permit me to place this piece of iron between your jaws, so that I may guide you with these reins, and allow this saddle to be placed upon your back so that I may keep steady upon you as we follow the enemy.” The Horse agreed to the conditions, and the Hunter soon saddled and bridled him. Then, with the aid of the Hunter, the Horse soon overcame the Stag and said to the Hunter: “Now get off, and remove those things from my mouth and back.” “Not so fast, friend,” said the Hunter. “I have now got you under bit and spur and prefer to keep you as you are at present.” —“The Horse, the Stag, and the Hunter,” Aesop’s Fables
”
”
Steven Levitsky (How Democracies Die)
“
The relief Kieran felt was staggering. The sick-satisfaction of justice burned through him like an oil spill, waiting for him to drop a match, to let it all go up in flames as he laughed through the rain of hellfire.
But he didn’t. He pocketed the metaphysical match. He vacuumed the torrential oil spill. He had just turned his wasteland into a rain forest; he would not let his resentment burn down the trees he had grown out of the garden of his own mind. Kieran himself had come too far to let the angry hand of vengeance burn away his fertile terrains, ruin his harvests of the pure flora kingdom and slaughter his animals to ribbons in sacrifice to greater demons whose jaws never shut. Homeostasis was a hard-earned tendency. Bonfires were clumsy and unwarranted; if he let it consume him and everything he’d built, all he had cultivated would be for nothing.
He did not want his flowers to die.
”
”
Grace Curley (The Light that Binds Us)
“
I got you these.” I flipped open the satchel again, offering him the book on gemstones first and Orion’s jaw went slack as he took the book from my hand, turning it over gently like it was the most precious thing in the world.
“Oh my stars,” he gasped, grabbing the bag from me and rifling through the books with a youthful smile on his face. I snorted a laugh as Darius gave me a pointed look, realising I’d just lost myself fifty auras, but the look on Orion’s face was definitely worth it.
“I’m afraid Highspell had some of your other ones burned,” I said with a frown and I immediately regretted saying that as Orion looked like I’d just told him I’d murdered his puppy.
“Burned them?” he rasped and I nodded, offering him an apologetic look as he hugged the bag of books to his chest like he didn’t want them to hear what had happened to their friends.
“Sorry, man.” Darius rested a hand to Orion’s shoulder and he growled.
“I’ll murder that fake-faced witch,” he snarled, his fangs on show as he held onto his books even tighter and I was pretty sure he was making that promise to them. Dude would definitely kill in revenge for those books.
”
”
Caroline Peckham (Heartless Sky (Zodiac Academy, #7))
“
Concealing himself from his father's wrath, behind the barn with wick turned low and his face two inches from the rough sawtooth page, Young Crawford had read of these atrocities in Beadle's Dime Library and fantasized about "calling out" the brutal old man who had sired him, "throwing down" on him with the "hogleg" he wore high on his hip, and blasting him into hell; after which he would go "on the scout," separating high-interest banks and arrogant railroad barons from their soiled coin and distributing it among their victims, or failing that into his own pockets and saddle pouches and living the "high Life" in saloons and "dance halls" where beautiful women in brief costumes admired his straight legs and square jaw and told him of the men who had "ruined" them (he knew not just how, only that the act was disgraceful and its effects permanent), whereupon he sought the blackguards out and deprived them of their lives. There was usually profit involved; invariably the men were thieves who lived in close proximity to their "ill-gotten booty," and didn't it say somewhere in Scripture that robbing a thief was no sin? If it didn't, it should have.
”
”
Loren D. Estleman (The Branch and the Scaffold: The True Story of the West's Hanging Judge)
“
There was nothing in Nesta's head but screaming. Nothing in her heart but love and hatred and fury as she let go of everything inside her and the entire world exploded.
The baying of her magic was a beast with no name. Avalanches cascaded down the cliffs in seas of glittering white. Trees bent and ruptured in the wake of the power that shattered from her. Distant seas drew back from their shores, then raced in waves toward them again. Glasses shook and shattered in Velaris, books tumbled off the shelves in Helion's thousand libraries, and the remnants of a run-down cottage in the human lands crumbled into a pile of rubble.
But all Nesta saw was Briallyn. All she saw was the slack-jawed crone as Nesta leaped upon her, throwing her frail body to the rocky ground. All she knew was screaming as she clutched Briallyn's face, the Crown glowing blindingly white, and roared her fury to the mountains, to the stars, to the dark places between them.
Gnarled hands turned young. A lined face became beautiful and lovely. White hair darkened to raven black.
But Nesta bellowed and bellowed, letting her magic rage, unleashing every ember. Erasing the queen beneath her from existence.
The young hands turned to ash. The pretty face dissolved into nothing. The dark hair withered into dust.
Until all that was left of the queen was the Crown on the ground.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4))
“
As for Elm, you won’t get your hands on him. He won’t be coming with us. What makes you think I’d hurt him? Ravyn scoffed. He’s a Rowan. Descendant of the man who stole your throne and killed your kin. You’ve had five hundred years to imagine your revenge. His stomach turned as he looked at the old blood beneath the Nightmare’s fingernails. Surely you want him dead. I had plenty of time to hurt him. Only I didn’t. The Princeling sensed me—saw my strange eyes—and recoiled. He understands, far better than you, Captain, that there are monsters in this world. He let out a long breath. My claws would find no purchase in a Rowan who is already broken. When Ravyn’s rigid jaw didn’t ease, the Nightmare grinned. Above rowan and yew, the elm tree stands tall. It waits along borders, a sentry at call. Quiet and guarded and windblown and marred, its bark whispers stories of a boy-Prince once scarred. His voice in Ravyn’s mind went eerily soft. And so, Ravyn Yew, your Elm I won’t touch. His life strays beyond my ravenous clutch. For a kicked pup grows teeth, and teeth sink to bone. I will need him, one day, when I harvest the throne.
”
”
Rachel Gillig (Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2))
“
SURE? The Case of the Knockout Artist Bugs Meany’s heart burned with a great desire. It was to get even with Encyclopedia. Bugs hated being outsmarted by the boy detective. He longed to punch Encyclopedia so hard on the jaw that the lump would come out the top of his head. Bugs never raised a fist, though. Whenever he felt like it, he remembered Sally Kimball. Sally was the prettiest girl in the fifth grade—and the best fighter. She had done what no boy under twelve had dreamed was possible. She had flattened Bugs Meany! When Sally became the boy detective’s junior partner, Bugs quit trying to use muscle on Encyclopedia. But he never stopped planning his day of revenge. “Bugs hates you more than he does me,” warned Encyclopedia. “He’ll never forgive you for whipping him.” Just then Ike Cassidy walked into the detective agency. Ike was one of Bugs’s pals. “I’m quitting the Tigers,” he announced. “I want to hire you. But you’ll have to take the quarter from my pocket. I can’t move my fingers.” “What’s this all about?” asked Encyclopedia. “Bugs’s cousin, Bearcat Meany, is spending the weekend with him,” said Ike. “Bearcat is only ten, but he’s built like a caveman. Bugs said he’d give me two dollars to box a few rounds with Bearcat. “Bearcat tripped you and stepped on your fingers?” guessed Encyclopedia. “No, he used his head,” said Ike. “I gave him my famous one-two: a left to the nose followed by a right to the chin. I must have broken both my hands hitting him.” “You should have worn boxing gloves,” said Sally. “We wore gloves,” said Ike. “Man, that Bearcat is something else!” “Did he knock you out?” asked Encyclopedia. “He did and he didn’t,” said Ike. “His first punch didn’t knock me out and it didn’t knock me down. But it hurt so much I just had to go down anyway.” “Good grief!” gasped Encyclopedia. “H-he licked you with one punch?” “With two,” corrected Ike. “When I got up, he hit me again. I was paralyzed. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t move enough to fall down.” “Bearcat sounds like a coming champ,” observed Sally. “He’s training for the next Olympics,” said Ike. “Isn’t he a little young?” said Sally. “You tell him that,” said Ike. “He hurt me when he breathed on me.” The more Encyclopedia heard about Bearcat, the unhappier he became.
”
”
Donald J. Sobol (Encyclopedia Brown Shows the Way (Encyclopedia Brown, #9))
“
I’ll stand by you, no matter what happens.” To her surprise and hurt, Steven shook his head. “No. You’re going to Whitneyville, not Louisiana. Until I’ve cleared my name, I won’t have anything to offer you. Besides, what if I’m convicted, and I’m not there to protect you from Macon?” A chill travelled down Emma’s spine, for she knew Steven could just as easily hang as be acquitted, given the fact that his adversary was Macon, a determined man bent on revenge. “If you don’t take me with you,” she said, “I will follow you to New Orleans, and if you don’t believe me, just wait and see. I won’t be left behind, Steven.” A muscle in his jaw bunched in suppressed anger; Steven knew Emma meant what she said. “All right, then, we’ll compromise. We’ll be married when we get to Spokane. That’ll give you some protection against Macon, but remember this, Emma—if they hang me, don’t wait around for the funeral. Macon wasn’t bluffing—the minute the life goes out of me, he’ll take you to bed, whether you want to go or not.” Emma was bruised inside. She was in love, really and truly in love, for the first time in her life. And her marriage might last no longer than a murder trial. Her eyes filled with tears. She embraced Steven even more tightly and looked up into his face. “There’ll be no funeral, Mr. Fairfax,” she said fiercely. “At least, not for forty or fifty years.” He kissed her forehead. “Promise me you’ll leave New Orleans the same day, if the verdict goes against us. I have to know that you won’t even go back to Fairhaven for your things, Emma. Do I have your word?” She nodded, albeit grudgingly. “We’re going to win,” she insisted. “I’m staking everything on that,” Steven replied. And then he kissed Emma thoroughly, and she wanted him to make love to her, right there where they stood.
”
”
Linda Lael Miller (Emma And The Outlaw (Orphan Train, #2))
“
His jaw flexes, and his teeth grind as he fists a handful of my hair. I feel the pain in his grip; the demons whispering in his ear. Letting out a deep sigh through his nose, he relaxes his hold, his eyes finding mine as he declares confidently, “Whatever revenge you desire. It will be yours.
”
”
Jescie Hall (That Sik Luv)
“
Damien cocks his arm back and, with his unencumbered, fully sober strength, hits Richard square in the jaw.
”
”
Morgan Elizabeth (Tis the Season for Revenge (Seasons of Revenge, #1))
“
I don't blame her,' Cassian said, shrugging despite his words. 'She was- violated. Her body stopped belonging wholly to her.' His jaw clenched. Even Amren didn't dare say anything. 'And I am going to peel the King of Hybern's skin off his bones the next time I see him.'
His Siphons flickered in answer.
Rhys said casually. 'I'm sure the king will thoroughly enjoy the experience.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3))
“
Huh, you? Moving abroad?” Her malicious laughter filled the whole room. “No one needs you there!”
“No one needs me here either, so why bother!?” My jaw clenched and my eyes began to darken due to the rising aggression...
I was 12-year-old back then and this dialogue had shattered me into million pieces.
”
”
Dari A. Malaunt (Horns of Revenge (Horns Unveiled Book 1))
“
Adam had got lucky, he knew. The dragon, or whatever it was, had set fire to the jail, burning right through the walls of Adam’s cell before the jailers could use water to put the flames out. Adam had somehow escaped without getting badly hurt, and got out of there as fast as his legs would carry him, escaping the city and running off across the countryside. I’m free, but where do I go? wondered Adam. He knew that Sally would never take him back. If he went to see her, she would be more likely to lock him up than hug him. Dave turned her against me, thought Adam. This is all his fault! Adam was suddenly seized by an intense feeling of panic. He was a wanted criminal with no friends and hated by everyone. I should have stayed in jail, he thought. There’s no place for me in this world anymore. As he wandered aimlessly across the countryside, Adam began to daydream about getting revenge on Dave. But he soon realized that he didn’t even know where Dave was. What am I going to do? Adam thought sadly. What will become of me? And then Adam came through some trees, and saw a sight that filled him with hope. “Lord Herobrine!” he said happily. “You’re free!” Herobrine was standing next to the dragon that had attacked the city. There were some arrows in the creature's wing and Herobrine was plucking them out. When he heard Adam’s voice, Herobrine turned around and stared at him with those intense white eyes of his. “It’s me, Adam!” said Adam. “Your most loyal servant!” “Kill him,” Herobrine said softly. The dragon stepped forward, an orange glow appearing between its jaws. “Wait!” whimpered Adam. “Don’t kill me, My Lord! You know me! I’m the one who told you about the end portal in Diamond City!” “I know who you are,” said Herobrine, “but I have no use for you anymore.” “Please,” said Adam, falling to his knees. “I just want to serve you, sir. I have… I have nowhere else to go. I can be useful, I promise!” Herobrine stepped forward and stood over Adam. “And if you help me, what would you like in return?
”
”
Dave Villager (The Legend of Dave the Villager Books 16–20: a collection of unofficial Minecraft books (Dave the Villager Collections Book 4))