Reign Series Quotes

Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust? And, live we how we can, yet die we must.

Growling, Marcus put all of his strength behind his next swing, deflecting the blow meant to sever his head and snapping Roy's blade in two. Dumb ass. That's what happened when you puchased weapons off of cable shopping networks.

Doubt had married my fear and moved into my mind, where it built castles and ruled kingdoms and reigned over me, bowing my will to its whispers until I was little more than an acquiescing peon, too terrified to disobey, too terrified to disagree..

Humanity was heaved back to the paper age in half a second. Life-support systems spat out bolts of energy and died. Precious manuscripts were lost. Banks collapsed as all financial records for the past fifty years were completely wiped out. Planes fell from the sky, the Graum II space station drifted off into space, and defense satellites that were not supposed to exist stopped existing. People took to the streets, shouting into their dead cell phones as if volume could reactivate them. Looting spread across countries like a computer virus while actual computer viruses died with their hosts, and credit cards became mere rectangles of plastic. Parliaments were stormed worldwide as citizens blamed their governments for this series of inexplicable catastrophes. Gouts of fire and foul blurts of actual brimstone emerged from cracks in the earth. These were mostly from ruptured pipes, but people took up a cry of Armageddon. Chaos reigned, and the survivalists eagerly unwrapped the kidskin from their crossbows.

So farwel Hope, and with Hope farwel Fear, Farwel Remorse: all Good to me is lost; Evil be thou my Good; by thee at least Divided Empire with Heav’ns King I hold By thee, and more then half perhaps will reigne; As Man ere long, and this new World shall know. Thus

The art of reigning is so delicate that a king must be jealous of his own shadow

Do not let the evil become our masters, but make the good reign upon the world.

They’re so precious.

Therefore, Orientalism is not a mere political subject matter or field that is reflected passively by culture, scholarship, or institutions; nor is it a large and diffuse collection of texts about the Orient; nor is it representative and expressive of some nefarious “Western” imperialist plot to hold down the “Oriental” world. It is rather a distribution of geopolitical awareness into aesthetic, scholarly, economic, sociological, historical, and philological texts; it is an elaboration not only of a basic geographical distinction (the world is made up of two unequal halves, Orient and Occident) but also of a whole series of “interests” which, by such means as scholarly discovery, philological reconstruction, psychological analysis, landscape and sociological description, it not only creates but also maintains; it is, rather than expresses, a certain will or intention to understand, in some cases to control, manipulate, even to incorporate, what is a manifestly different (or alternative and novel) world; it is, above all, a discourse that is by no means in direct, corresponding relationship with political power in the raw, but rather is produced and exists in an uneven exchange with various kinds of power, shaped to a degree by the exchange with power political (as with a colonial or imperial establishment), power intellectual (as with reigning sciences like comparative linguistics or anatomy, or any of the modern policy sciences), power cultural (as with orthodoxies and canons of taste, texts, values), power moral (as with ideas about what “we” do and what “they” cannot do or understand as “we” do). Indeed, my real argument is that Orientalism is—and does not simply represent—a considerable dimension of modern political-intellectual culture, and as such has less to do with the Orient than it does with “our” world.

There once was a girl, clever and good, who tarried in shadow in the depths of the wood. There also was a King- a Shepherd by his crook, who reigned over magic and wrote the old book. The two were together, so the two were the same. The Girl, the King and the Monster they became.

In the middle of the sixth century there was, however, a period when the Roman dominion was revived in the West-from the East. During Justinian's reign in Constantinople, his generals reconquered Africa, Italy, and southern Spain. That achievement, associated mainly with the name of Belisarius, is the more remarkable because of two features-first, the extraordinarily slender resources with which Belisarius undertook these far-reaching campaigns; second, his consistent use of the tactical defensive. There is no parallel in history for such a series of conquests by abstention from attack. They are the more remarkable since they were carried out by an army that was based on the mobile arm-and mainly compose of cavalry. Belisarius had no lack of audacity, but his tactics were to allow-or tempt-the other side to do the attacking. IF that choice was, in part, imposed on him by his numerical weakness, it was also a matter of subtle calculation, both tactical and psychological.

They thought they had gotten rid of Him. They said, “We have no king but Caesar”; they cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” and their will was carried out and His precious dead body sealed up in Joseph’s tomb; but God had not changed His mind. He is to reign in Zion yet. He is going to have the throne just as surely as He had the cross.

The gospel, centered profoundly for Jesus in the announcement that the reign of God is at hand, is eschatological in character. It pulls back the veil on the coming reign of God, thereby revealing the horizon of the world’s future. The gospel portrays the coming of Jesus, and particularly his death and resurrection, as the decisive, truly eschatological event in the world’s history.

Due to a century of successes at the hands of the aforementioned emperors—from Basil I to Basil II—a false sense of security prevailed. Vigilance was abandoned; rule “passed into the hands of a series of dotards, sensualists and courtesans—female rule once again predominated.” The twenty-nine-year reign of Empress Zoe, “a middle-aged harlot,” saw her marry and divorce—often by blinding or murdering—several men.27 Concern for the frontier and the struggle against Islam was dropped; the empire’s resources were squandered on the fancies of the civil bureaucracy, which came to rule in all but name.

God save us from an Earth in which all men are the same. God save us from a colony where that is the goal, or a culture which assumes that for its norm. Give me a thousand people speaking different tongues, worshiping different gods, and dreaming different dreams, and I will make of them a greater nation than you can make with ten thousand of your gengineered duplicates. For mine will have the spark of greatness in them, while yours will live for conformity, worship mediocrity, and take their carefully modulated delight in predigested dreams. Reigning in Chaos: the founding of Guera Colony (Historical Archives, Hellsgate Station)

A long decade ago economic growth was the reigning fashion of political economy. It was simultaneously the hottest subject of economic theory and research, a slogan eagerly claimed by politicians of all stripes, and a serious objective of the policies of governments. The climate of opinion has changed dramatically. Disillusioned critics indict both economic science and economic policy for blind obeisance to aggregate material "progress," and for neglect of its costly side effects. Growth, it is charged, distorts national priorities, worsens the distribution of income, and irreparably damages the environment. Paul Erlich speaks for a multitude when he says, "We must acquire a life style which has as its goal maximum freedom and happiness for the individual, not a maximum Gross National Product." [in Nordhaus, William D. and James Tobin., "Is growth obsolete?" Economic Research: Retrospect and Prospect Vol 5: Economic Growth. Nber, 1972. 1-80]

That summer when I was feeling very much like Juliet holding the potion, the therapist would tell me, “Just know that those thoughts aren’t you. That’s the OCD, it’s not you.” It was a kind gesture—she was offering me the illness narrative that reigns now, the one that constructs very, very firm boundaries between brain and self, illness and consciousness, self and other. I clung to that for a while, the notion that the maelstrom happening in my brain was not of me but outside me, happening to me. That there was a tidy line dividing “me” from “disease,” and the disease was classifiable as “other.” But then it became difficult to tell whether certain thoughts should go in the me box or the disease box—where did “I want to throw a rock through the kitchen window” belong? Eventually I could no longer avoid the fact that mental illness is not like infection; there’s no outside invader. And if a disease is produced in your body, in your mind, then what is it if not you?

Then the cycle began again under the Qing Dynasty. China achieved its maximum territorial expansion, governing over a third of the world’s population while reforms under the reigns of three long-ruling emperors led to an extended period of economic prosperity.3 Then the European powers arrived. Earlier in this book we saw how the European powers, in the Age of Exploration, used their military strength to trade with and exploit resource-rich but militarily weaker foreigners. That’s what happened starting in the early 1800s, which began what is called the Century of Humiliation in China. The Europeans came offering to trade but the Chinese didn’t want anything they had to offer. This led to the British bringing opium into China to get the Chinese addicted, so that they would trade for it. A series of military confrontations followed during the 1800s (most notably the Opium Wars), which sped China’s decline. Chinese moves to stem their decline failed and there was great internal conflict and uprisings (most notably the Taiping Rebellion), which continued until the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.

Paul makes a salvation-historical argument here, for those who are led by the Spirit do not belong to the old era of redemptive history when the law reigned.27 To be “under law,” as was noted previously (see also 3:23; 4:21), is to be “under a curse” (3:10), “under sin” (3:22), “under the custodian” (3:25), “under guardians and managers” (4:2), “enslaved under the elements of the world” (4:3), and in need of redemption (4:4–5). If one is “under law,” then one is not “under grace” (Rom 6:14–15). Paul’s argument here is illuminating and fits with what he says in Romans 6 as well. Those who are directed by the Spirit are no longer under the law, and therefore they no longer live in the old era of redemptive history under the reign of sin. Freedom from law does not, according to Paul, mean freedom to sin; it means freedom from sin. Conversely, those who are under the law live under the dominion of the sin. Hence, for the Galatians to subjugate themselves to the message of the Judaizers would be a disaster, for it would open the floodgates for the power of sin to be unleashed in the Galatian community. The answer to the dominion of sin is the cross of Christ and the gift of the Spirit. If the Galatians follow the Spirit, they will not live under the tyranny of sin and the law.

Extract from 'Quixotic Ambitions': The crowd stared at Katy expectantly. She looked at them - old women in black, exhausted young women with pasty-faced children, youths in jeans and leather blousons chewing gum. She tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, she blurted out her short speech, thanking the people of Shkrapova for their welcome and promising that if she won the referendum she would work for the good of Maloslavia. There was some half-hearted applause and an old lady hobbled up to her, knelt down with difficulty, and kissed the hem of her skirt. She looked at Katy with tears rolling down her face and gabbled something excitedly. Dimitar translated: ‘She says that she remembers the reign of your grandfather and that God has sent you to Maloslavia.’ Katy was embarrassed but she smiled at the woman and helped her to her feet. At this moment the People’s Struggle Pioneers appeared on the scene, waving their banners and shouting ‘Doloy Manaheeyoo! Popnikov President!’ Police had been stationed at strategic points and quickly dispersed the demonstrators without any display of violence, but the angry cries of ‘Down with the monarchy!’ had a depressing effect on the entertainment that had been planned; only a few people remained to watch it. A group of children aged between ten and twelve ran into the square and performed a series of dances accompanied by an accordian. They stamped their feet and clapped their hands frequently and occasionally collided with one another when they forgot their next move. The girls wore embroidered blouses, stiffly pleated skirts and scarlet boots and the boys were in baggy linen shirts and trousers, the legs of which were bound with leather thongs. Their enthusiasm compensated for their mistakes and they were loudly applauded. The male voice choir which followed consisted of twelve young men who sang complicated polyphonic melodies with a high, curiously nasal tenor line accompanied by an unusually deep droning bass. Some of their songs were the cries of despair of a people who had suffered under Turkish occupation; others were lively dance tunes for feast days and festivals. They were definitely an acquired taste and Katy, who was beginning to feel hungry, longed for them to come to an end. At last, at two o’clock, the performance finished and trestle tables were set up in the square. Dishes of various salads, hors-d’oeuvres and oriental pastries appeared, along with casks of beer and bottles of the local red wine. The people who had disappeared during the brief demonstration came back and started piling food on to paper plates. A few of the People’s Struggle Pioneers also showed up again and mingled with the crowd, greedily eating anything that took their fancy.

Hoover fed the story to sympathetic reporters—so-called friends of the bureau. One article about the case, which was syndicated by William Randolph Hearst’s company, blared, NEVER TOLD BEFORE! —How the Government with the Most Gigantic Fingerprint System on Earth Fights Crime with Unheard-of Science Refinements; Revealing How Clever Sleuths Ended a Reign of Murder and Terror in the Lonely Hills of the Osage Indian Country, and Then Rounded Up the Nation’s Most Desperate Gang In 1932, the bureau began working with the radio program The Lucky Strike Hour to dramatize its cases. One of the first episodes was based on the murders of the Osage. At Hoover’s request, Agent Burger had even written up fictional scenes, which were shared with the program’s producers. In one of these scenes, Ramsey shows Ernest Burkhart the gun he plans to use to kill Roan, saying, “Look at her, ain’t she a dandy?” The broadcasted radio program concluded, “So another story ends and the moral is identical with that set forth in all the others of this series….[ The criminal] was no match for the Federal Agent of Washington in a battle of wits.” Though Hoover privately commended White and his men for capturing Hale and his gang and gave the agents a slight pay increase—“ a small way at least to recognize their efficiency and application to duty”—he never mentioned them by name as he promoted the case. They did not quite fit the profile of college-educated recruits that became part of Hoover’s mythology. Plus, Hoover never wanted his men to overshadow him.

Blackbeard the pirate was actually Edward Teach sometimes known as Edward Thatch, who lived from 1680 until his death on November 22, 1718. Blackbeard was a notorious English pirate who sailed around the eastern coast of North America. Although little is known about his childhood he may have worked as an apprentice on an English ship, during the second phase in a series of wars between the French and the English from 1754 and ended in 1778 as part of the American Revolutionary War. The war had different names depending on where it was fought. In the American colonies the war was known as the French and Indian War. During the time it was fought during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, it was called Queen Anne's War and in Europe it was known as the War of the Spanish Succession. During the earlier period of hostilities between France and England, some English ships were granted permission to raid French colonies and French ships and were considered privateers. Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716 operated from the Bahamian island of New Providence. Captain Hornigold placed Teach in command of a sloop that he had captured and during this time he was given the name Blackbeard. Horngold and Blackbeard sailing out of New Providence engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition of other captured ships. Blackbeard captured a French slave ship known as La Concorde and renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge. He renamed it “Queen Anne's Revenge” referring to Anne, Queen of England and Scotland returning to the throne of Great Britain. He equipped his new acquisition with 40 guns, and a crew of over 300 men. Becoming a world renowned pirate, most people feared him. In a failed attempt to run a blockade in place and refusing the governors pardon, he ran “Queen Anne's Revenge” aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina and settled in North Carolina where he then accepted a royal pardon. The wreck of “Queen Anne's Revenge” was found in 1996 by private salvagers, Intersal Inc., a salvage company based in Palm Bay, Florida Not knowing when enough, he returned to plundering at sea. Alexander Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia formed a garrison of soldiers and sailors to protect the colony and if possible capture Blackbeard. On November 22, 1718 following a ferocious battle, Blackbeard and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard. After his death, Blackbeard became a martyr and an inspiration for a number of fictitious books.

During [Erté]’s childhood St. Petersburg was an elegant centre of theatrical and artistic life. At the same time, under its cultivated sophistication, ominous rumbles could be distinguished. The reign of the tough Alexander III ended in 1894 and his more gentle successor Nicholas was to be the last of the Tsars … St. Petersburg was a very French city. The Franco-Russian Pact of 1892 consolidated military and cultural ties, and later brought Russia into the First World war. Two activities that deeply influenced [Erté], fashion and art, were particularly dominated by France. The brilliant couturier Paul Poiret, for whom Erté was later to work in Paris, visited the city to display his creations. Modern art from abroad, principally French, was beginning to be show in Russia in the early years of the century … In St. Petersburg there were three Imperial theatres―the Maryinsky, devoted to opera and ballet, the Alexandrinsky, with its lovely classical façade, performing Russian and foreign classical drama, and the Michaelovsky with a French repertoire and company … It is not surprising that an artistic youth in St. Petersburg in the first decade of this century should have seen his future in the theatre. The theatre, especially opera and ballet, attracted the leading young painters of the day, including Mikhail Vrubel, possibly the greatest Russian painter of the pre-modernistic period. The father of modern theatrical design in Russia was Alexandre Benois, an offspring of the brilliant foreign colony in the imperial capital. Before 1890 he formed a club of fellow-pupils who were called ‘The Nevsky Pickwickians’. They were joined by the young Jew, Leon Rosenberg, who later took the name of one of his grandparents, Bakst. Another member introduced his cousin to the group―Serge Diaghilev. From these origins emerged the Mir Iskustva (World of Art) society, the forerunner of the whole modern movement in Russia. Soon after its foundation in 1899 both Benois and Bakst produced their first work in the theatre, The infiltration of the members of Mir Iskustva into the Imperial theatre was due to the patronage of its director Prince Volkonsky who appointed Diaghilev as an assistant. But under Volkonsky’s successor Diagilev lost his job and was barred from further state employment. He then devoted his energies and genius to editing the Mir Iskustva magazine and to a series of exhibitions which introduced Russia to work of foreign artists … These culminated in the remarkable exhibition of Russian portraiture held at the Taurida Palace in 1905, and the Russian section at the salon d'Autumne in Paris the following year. This was the most comprehensive Russian exhibition ever held, from early icons to the young Larionov and Gontcharova. Diagilev’s ban from Russian theatrical life also led to a series of concerts in Paris in 1907, at which he introduced contemporary Russian composers, the production Boris Godunov the following year with Chaliapin and costumes and décor by Benois and Golovin, and then in 1909, on May 19, the first season of the ballet Russes at the Châtelet Theatre.

Don't make me end your reign grandpa. Stay away from us. If you are capable of killing me then don't forget I have my own powers to kill you too.

The galaxy was vast beyond mortal comprehension. It was common to visualise it as a great spiral of light, but this was an illusion. The stars were only tiny specks scattered across the endless night. To travel between them required risking a still greater darkness, the maddened hell that was the immaterium. The only light in that twisted nether-realm was the Astronomican, the soul-blaze guided by the Emperor Himself. Yet even the divine beacon had limits. In the far reaches it thinned and faded to nothing. There, at the very edge of where the shadows reigned unchallenged, sat the Blackstone Fortress. It was older than human civilisation. Whatever hands had built it were no longer around to explain its opaque workings. Such a shadowed existence led, unsurprisingly, to superstition. It had borne many names through the slow creep of years. The Dark Star. Old Unfathomable. The Eater of the Dead. Thousands more across hundreds of languages. That last name was given for a particular oddity of the ancient station. Its gravity obeyed no known rules. Instead, it seemed almost hungry. It pulled in debris and ships, a train of wreckage and ruin that spiralled in from the stars to be consumed into the lightless hull. There in the belly of the beast everything was slowly absorbed. Perhaps that was how it repaired itself. Perhaps it was how it learned. Perhaps it was growing. There was no one to ask.

Seeing Christ externally, objectively, loving Him without repentance, and weeping from sympathy, like the daughters of Jerusalem (Luke 23:28), leads to a delusive emotionalism alien to the Liturgy. By contrast, the quiet celebration of the Liturgy gives guidance for a correct Orthodox attitude and provides an air of devout contrition. Joy does not laugh aloud and wound those who are sorrowful, nor does pain cast gloom and disillusionment over the weak. There reigns everywhere the devout contrition which secretly and inexhaustibly comforts everyone, making them joyful and uniting them as brothers. Human emotionalism is one thing and the devout contrition of the Liturgy quite another. The one causes man skin-deep irritation but torments him physically; the other nails him down but comforts him, revealing our God-like nature in the very depths of our existence. This is something that burdens you with a heavy obligation but at the same time gives you the wings of invincible hope.

We have argued above that Christ began his Messianic reign at his resurrection-ascension; but his present reign is invisible, unseen and unrecognized by the world, visible only to the eye of faith. The order of the Age to Come will involve a new heaven and a new earth, and will be so different from the present order that we can speak of it as beyond history

He insists that Christ is now exalted to the high position of Lord and Christ, is exercising his power, and is reigning from heaven as God's vice regent.

That condition, semiheavenly and semiearthly, with Christ reigning-apparently-in Jerusalem, with two radically different types of people (the saints in glorified, resurrected bodies and ordinary mortals still in the flesh mingling freely throughout the world for the long and almost unending period of one thousand years) strikes me as so unreal and impossible that I wonder how anyone can take it seriously. Such a mixed state of mortals and immortals, terrestrial and celestial, surely would be a monstrosity.

couldn't have conditions, Josh had realized. Love possessed no limits, no fear, no shame. Love rose above that; otherwise, it wouldn't be love. If nothing else, the past year had taught him that. The love that reigned in this house, it wasn't traditional by any standard.

I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace,” said the Caliph Abd al-Rahman I, the eighth-century ruler of Iberia, “beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot; they amount to fourteen.

We find on the contrary that the millennial reign of Christ will be the manifestation in history of the lordship and sovereignty which is his already.

I hate men who think they’re powerful. Who think they can tell people what to do.

I tried to act unphased, fighting back a cold sweat. At least the smell of blood was long gone, but that was little relief. It felt like we’d been travelling a straight line, yet daring a glimpse back, I saw with horror the light of the entrance was now completely absent in darkness, so much thicker and more terrifying than night’s black cloak. It was the dark of the earth we found ourselves trapped by, a dark that would claim us all in the end, and we were walking deeper still with a man who seemed disturbingly at ease amongst the crypt’s inhabitants. More than once, he swept the light into our eyes and away, leaving us dazzled, which made each inevitable return of his hulking form all the more ominous. What fearful things might we discover if we ran, I wondered? Even ignoring that, how far could we get against someone who filled the space like him and carried our only means of sight? As it has been said, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man reigns as king. I looked to Macnaghten for reassurance and was met only by an empty void. ~ Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline, The Ripper Lives, Into the Black (4/10)

Christ on the throne, reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords. Every part of Scripture testifies about Jesus Christ. Luke 24:27 says, “Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, [Jesus] explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” In John 5:39, Jesus said of the Scriptures, “It is these that bear witness of Me.” Philip preached Christ to the Ethiopian eunuch by using the book of Isaiah (Acts 8:35). But of all the Bible’s teaching about Jesus Christ, none is more significant than Colossians 1:15-19. This dramatic and powerful passage removes any needless doubt or confusion over Jesus

Here’s to falling for you even more than I already was. You’ve got a hold of something inside of me. I can’t wait until the next time I can kiss you.

PS. I lied when I said I would only be thinking about the meeting today. I couldn’t get my mind off last night. You’ve wrecked me for life.

You’re not spinning out of control and freaking out? His dick must have some personality-changing abilities.

He’s going to lose it because you’re going to look smoking hot. Two can play this game, sweetheart. And quite frankly, women are better at it.

It took you less than two minutes to flirt with another man. You won’t be sharing a dance with him or anyone else tonight. Not if I have anything to say about it.

I’ll try, but you make it awfully hard. And if another man approaches you… I don’t know what I’ll do.

Shit, women are hard work.

Do you know how bad I want you? I have half the nerve to stop the elevator and fuck you three ways to Sunday right here.

It’s careless of me, but I can’t seem to slow down with her. My heart races when I’m with her. I hope hers does too.

Because you promised to fuck me against that wall and I don’t like when people go back on their word.

That’s it, beauty. You’re a fucking queen.

I enjoyed my appetizer.” Can she get any better?

He claimed you? Holy shit on a stick. How do you get this and I get ‘Do you want to do it?’ It’s unfair.

Maybe great sex will have me forgetting about bad things. There’s only one way to find out.

Let me watch as I make love to you for the first time.

Come with me. Let’s come together the first time we make love.

Even with all the risk, he’s a part of me now and I know there’s no looking back. I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. And that right there just might be the start of my demise.

It’s okay to love something even though it’s not here now.

If I let you fall through my grasp because of something Aiden said, I’m sorry. What kind of man does that make me? “You deserve a partner who will stand up to him and fight for you. Hopefully, I’ll get there soon because I can’t see life without you.

My soul feels like it just cracked open and sprung a new life of its own. I slowly shake my head because I can’t believe how many years I’ve let her run to another guy for fear I would lose my best friend.

Dori’s worth dealing with Aiden’s wrath.

How else will I ever be able to show her I love her like to the depths of my soul love her? She’s my person. She always has been and I can’t—no, I won’t—let her go this time.

I’d give anything to hold her every night for the rest of my life.

If I can’t have her, at least I’ll be taking a billion dollars from the guy who can.

I’m not losing a billion dollars because Dori decided to get into bed with him.

The universe is not on my side when it comes to her. Maybe it’s for the best.

At least I don’t want to kill him anymore.

I wish I didn’t love her because this would be a lot easier if I didn’t.

Someone should tie me up and throw me in a cage so I can never get out.

Damn. You’re getting tighter.” He slows down and teases me. “Then fuck me harder and stretch me open. Show me how bad you want me.

She stole a piece of me and I’m wondering if she’ll give it back or keep it safe.

She could break me in half. All she has to do is walk away, and that’s a terrifying thought.

She’s beautiful in anything she has on—or off, for that matter.

At this rate, I’ll be drunk before she finishes her glass of wine.

Does she seriously think I’ll follow her and ‘fuck it out’ right now?

I used to think there was a never for us. But now I know there’s never been a never with you. It’s always been you. I want to be with you. So, would you want to take a chance with me and see if we can figure this out together?

Edinburgh was, at the beginning of George III's reign, a picturesque, odorous, inconvenient, old-fashioned town of about seventy thousand inhabitants. A stranger approaching the city, seeing it piled 'close and massy, deep and high' - a series of towers, rising from a palace of the plain to a castle in the air - would have thought it a truly romantic place; and the impression would not have subsided much on a near inspection, when he would have found himself admitted by a fortified gate through an ancient wall, still kept in repair.

The Empress represents the fertile life-giving Mother who reigns over the bounty of nature and the rhythms of Earth. From her comes all the pleasures and joys of the senses and the abundance of new life in all its forms.

It was the least brave quality - to be sensitive and fearful and full of tears. But I let them flow freely now.

There is no redemption," he continued, pulling his hand from mine. "Only revenge." "Sound like a very lonely way to live." "Yes." He said it like he deserved such an existence.

Had I known what was out there, I might never have given myself the chance to be brave.

I don’t know what’s worse. Him checking out every woman that enters the restaurant or a conversation that bores me to tears.

I clutch at my heart because he could crush, stomp on, and throw it away without a second thought. I know this because I’ve wanted him since I was ten, and he’s done it to me more than once.

My attraction to him is wickedly savage. I have so many naughty things I want to do with him.

Jesus, Dori. Those emerald eyes get me every time.

I’m playing with fire, but this man causes me to do things that take me down a slippery slope to heartache.

Dorothy Fisher’s my dream girl and still so fucking unbelievably gorgeous. Combine that with her touching me tonight and I thought I was going to lose it. I had to hold myself back because I didn’t want my dick to tear a hole in my pants. It took all my restraint to keep it down.

Bringing up my sexual interests is a dick comment, considering he’s the one who introduced me to the particular kink I like. Whatever. That’s irrelevant right now.

Jamison Stone may think he’s done his homework, but he doesn’t know all the tricks I have up my sleeve. One way or another, I will find out what he’s hiding. He can count on it.

Just look at him. That’s nothing but a billion-dollar, hot as molten lava god.

Oh, a woman who’s brave enough to go toe to toe with me. Even more beautiful.

I’m glad you didn’t get the memo. This dress is something else. I’m glad I didn’t miss seeing you in this.

Don’t worry, beauty. You have all night to touch me. Right now, I want to taste you.

We have sex once and you think you can share my food?

This woman confuses the fuck out of me.

My gaze drags the length of her body as the black barrier disappears. She’s wearing red lace lingerie. And red is now my favorite color. Her hair, her lingerie, her taste, her smell… It’s all red.

You’re just as stunning, it’s unfair how men just look fantastic while women have to work at it.” “You always embody beauty.

You said there was only one reason to date her. What’s that?” My body stiffens. “I love her. I always have.

I love it when ‘I don’t give a fuck about anything’ Dori comes out to play.

Don’t act like I don’t know who you are. Your mission in life is to make every woman you meet want you.

Playing this little game with her is fun. It’s like forbidden flirting, which makes me want her even more.

Nothing like baptism by fire, but shit’s about to hit the fan.

If hot caramel had a sound, his voice would be it. It’s smooth and screams take a bite out of me.

This should probably be a one-time-only thing.” “Not a chance in hell, beauty. This is just the beginning. It’s a good thing you got a nap today because I plan on keeping you up into all hours of the night.

You’re more beautiful right now than I’ve ever seen you before.