The Rose Society

“Why can’t I be like that? Why can’t I be the father who just shrugs off the love of his daughter? Why can’t I be the Lead Inquisitor who enjoys watching his pleading victims burn at the stake? Why can’t I be the one who befriends a lonely, lost girl and then casts her out? Why can’t I be the one to strike first, to hit so early and with such fury that my enemies cower before they can ever think of turning on me? What is so great about being good?”

LovePainGoodness

Book:The Rose Society

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“I made mistakes. I trusted both too little and too much. But, by the gods, I tried so hard. I gave everything I had. I have always done the best I could, and yet, somehow, it has never been enough. No one cared what I did. They always turned their backs on me.”

SadnessAdelina Amouteru

Book:The Rose Society

Source: The Rose Society

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“Fear motivates, more than love or ambition or joy. Fear is more powerful than anything else in the world. I have spent so long yearning for things—for love, for acceptance—that I do not really need. I need nothing except the submission that comes with fear. I do not know why it took me so long to learn this.”

FearAdelina Amouteru

Book:The Rose Society

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“He is not Enzo, I remind myself. But I don't want him to be. With Enzo, my energy yearned for his power and ambition, all too happy to let him take me into the darkness. But with Magiano... I am able to smile, even to laugh. I am able to sit here and lean back and point out the constellations.”

LoveRomanceAdelina AmouteruMagianoEnzo Valenciano

Book:The Rose Society

Source: The Rose Society

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“It is better to have an enemy who will fight you in an open field then a lover who will kill you in your sleep.”

LoveMarie Lu

Book:The Rose Society

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“Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, so she destroyed them all.”

YaMarie LuAdelina AmouteruThe Rose Society

Book:The Rose Society

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“The irony of life is that those who wear masks often tell us more truths than those with open faces.”

LifeTruthIronyMasks

Book:The Rose Society

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“Raffaele reaches Enzo. Flames still burn on Enzo's hands, but for some reason, he doesn't move to attack. Instead, he waits as Raffaele reaches up to curl a hand around the back of his neck, then pulls him close so that their foreheads touch. Tears streak Raffaele's face. Suddenly I remember how he had looked on the day he turned his back on me, the way he had closed his eyes when I begged him to let me stay. It is the same expression he wears now.”

Enzo ValencianoRaffaele Laurent BessetteRaffaele

Book:The Rose Society

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“I don't know why I pause to watch Raffaele. Perhaps I have always done so, so captivated am I by his beauty. Even now, in the midst of death and destruction, he moves with the grace of someone not of this world. His attention is focused entirely on Enzo. The sight breaks my heart, and a small, lost part of me sparks with light.”

Enzo ValencianoRaffaele

Book:The Rose Society

Source: The Rose Society

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“Enzo narrows his eyes. He moves as if to grab Raffaele's wrist with his burning hands, to burn him alive from the inside out. "Don't," Raffaele whispers to Enzo. And even though Enzo's eyes stay black, Raffaele does not flinch away. He remains where he is, surrounded by fire. Enzo's eyes flicker. He blinks at Raffaele, confused, and then lowers his face toward him. Raffaele leans forward, closes his eyes, and rests his head against Enzo's shoulder. I do not need to touch them to know that Raffaele's energy is coursing through Enzo now, healing and soothing, calming, pushing against the fury of his own.”

Enzo ValencianoRaffaele

Book:The Rose Society

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“We are drawn to stories,” he says in a soft voice, “and every scar carries one.”

Marie LuThe Rose SocietyThe Young Elite

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“Why feel guilty for something that isn't your fault? Because I loved him. And now he is gone.”

Marie LuAdelina AmouteruThe Rose Society

Book:The Rose Society

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“None of it was your fault, the whispers in my head argue. You didn't kill him, after all -- it was not your blade that ended his life. So why are you the one cast out? You didn't have to return to the Daggers -- you didn't need to help them rescue Raffaele. And still they turned on you. Why does everyone forget your good intentions, Adelina?”

Marie LuAdelina AmouteruThe Rose Society

Book:The Rose Society

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“For a fleeting moment, I imagine that if I were queen, I could make the act of hurting malfettos a crime. I could execute this boy's pursuers with a single command.”

Marie LuAdelina AmouteruThe Rose Society

Book:The Rose Society

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“In this moment, I am a god.”

The Rose Society

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“They tell me that you have been crying in your sleep. Do not grieve our separation, my love, for our reunion will come just as swiftly." -Letter from unknown prisoner, convicted of treason, to fiancee”

Marie LuThe Rose Society

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“I'm thinking about Enzo, the way he used to be. The hard look in his eyes as he trained me, and then the vulnerability I saw in him whenever we were alone. I don't need to push Sergio to know that Raffaele had asked Enzo to kill him, just as he did to me. Enzo had spared us both. He had been such a strong leader, such a natural crown prince. He would have been an admirable king.”

EnzoThe Rose Society

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“Enzo's eyes flick back to me. He does not ask if I will be okay. His silent approval makes me stand taller.”

Adelina AmouteruEnzoThe Rose Society

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“I looked into those eyes and I saw nothing. It was like staring straight into the Underworld. Like he aches to return to where he came from.”

DarknessAbyssUnderworld

Book:The Rose Society

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“Desperation brings out the darkness in everyone," the man said with a shrug.”

DarknessAdelinaRaffaele

Book:The Rose Society

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“They were the flash of light in a stormy sky, the fleeting darkness before dawn. Never have they existed before, nor shall they ever exist again.”

ExistenceDarknessStormDawnYoung Elites

Book:The Rose Society

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