c55e0f9
|
It's all fun and games until the drunk Viking Santa shows up.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
419f14a
|
No offense, right. "No offense" stood for "I'm going to insult you, but you can't be mad at me."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
c35d254
|
Some things you simply accepted, the way you accepted the sunrise or the winter cold. They called it lupine fatalism, but in reality it was plain common sense.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
1df0bf4
|
But whatever regrets she had, she would have to live with them. Regrets never did anyone any good.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
6b8b366
|
Perhaps if you were less heavy-handed in your treatment of the guests you claim to honor and protect, your inn would have a higher rating." He did not. Oh yes, yes he did. "Perhaps if you trained the knights under your command to follow simple orders, your House would've reached greater prominence within your empire."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
7d0660e
|
If he ever did manage to formulate his own thought, it would likely knock him senseless.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
e600b03
|
If it feels wrong, it probably is.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
e15ba76
|
What kind of a woman greets the Beast Lord with 'here, kitty, kitty'?" he asked."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
53dfcf6
|
No, it's human," Curran said. "That's the problem. People, especially unhappy people, want a cause. They want something to belong to, to be a part of something great and bigger, and to be led. It's easy to be a cog in a machine: you don't have to think, you have no responsibility. You're just following orders. Doing as you're told."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
22f9dd5
|
For a time you can be alone and doing fine and never give a thought to living any other way and then you meet someone and suddenly you become lonely. It stabs at you, almost like a physical pain, and you feel both deprived and angry, deprived because you wish to be with that person, and angry because their absence brings you misery. It's a strange feeling, akin to desperation, a feeling that makes you wait by the phone even though you know ..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
b32ced2
|
Curran spared me half a second of his hard stare. "Even if you thought I was in the Guild, what did you think I was doing while the giant was tearing it up? Did you think I was sitting on my hands?" "I thought you might be injured." He looked at me. "We've met, you and I?" I deliberately took a big step back. "What?" he growled. "I'm making room for your ego." "Fine. I should've left a note!" "You should've." "Answer me this, did you hesita..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
24c117e
|
I'm sorry, I can't hear you. My ears are still ringing from that big boom your head made when it hit the stairs. Is your brain okay? Because your skull sounded hollow.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
a331521
|
once you become their Other, you're no longer a person. You're just an idea, an abstraction of everything that's wrong with their world. Give them the slightest excuse, and they will tear you down. And the easiest way for them to target you as this Other is to find something that's different about you. Color of your skin. The way you speak. The place you're from. Magic. It comes and goes in cycles, Kate. Each new generation picks their own ..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
850b61e
|
History had a way of rolling over the best-laid plans like a runaway bulldozer.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
7ed9fb4
|
One of the rooms in the castle had a creature in it," Curran said. "What kind of creature?" "A large cat," Curran said. "It glowed." "What happened to the large glowing cat?" Why did I have a feeling I wouldn't like the answer? "I killed it," Curran said. "Aha." First, I broke Mishmar, then Curran stole Saiman back and killed my father's glowing cat. Maybe Roland's head would explode. "It was a saber-toothed tiger," Julie said. "It glowed s..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
eb1627e
|
Caldenia smiled. "A Quillonian chef, my dear you shouldn't have. Well you should have months ago, but one mustn't be petty. Finally. I shall be dining in a style to which I am suited. Fantastic. Does he have moral scruples I am reasonably sure this summit will result in at least one murder, and I have never tasted an otrokar."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
257287f
|
I got my boots out of the closet, put them on, and buckled a belt with a knife on it around my waist under my robe. Baha-char was the place where you went to find things. Sometimes things found you instead and tried to take your money.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
73a61c2
|
You and me. This wasn't in the plan. The plan was to be alone, to hide, and to kill Roland. Being happy was never one of the bullet points. Some part of me is still convinced it's a fluke and eventually it will be ripped away from me. Deep down I expect it. Any hint of it and I roll down the cliff. You're mine, you know that, right? If you ever try to leave me, it won't go well.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
6f964e8
|
I don't trust tragedies much. It's easy to make a person sad by showing him something tragic. We all recognize when sad things happen: someone dies, someone loses a loved one, young love is crushed. It's much harder to make a man laugh--what's funny to one person isn't funny to another.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
75e6327
|
typical sentient's psyche is a spiderweb. Pull on the right thread and you will get the desired result. Praise them and they will like you. Ridicule them and they'll hate you. Greedy can be bought, timid can be frightened, smart can be persuaded, but the zealots are immune to money, fear, or reason. A zealot's psyche is a tightrope. They have severed everything else in favor of their goal. They will pay any price for their victory, and that..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
0f36f8e
|
Life had tried to kill me in all sorts of ways lately, but falling off of a flying horse was a new and unwelcome development.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
75dc3dc
|
This particular hyena was short and had blue hair that stuck out straight up from her head. She saw me looking.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
88bae73
|
What"s that?" "That"s a steak for me and mushroom pasta for you. The pasta is made with tofu and palm oil instead of eggs. I cooked it myself. My steak is wrapped in several layers of foil. It"s not touching the container with your food, so no worries."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
2ebdbfb
|
You know my price," he told her. Elara leaned back and crossed her arms, her face iced over. "Really?" "The whole thing. You'll put it in your mouth and you'll swallow." What? "The whole thing?"
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
2dc599b
|
Let's hope your lion has some brains, otherwise your child will be a dimwit.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
1febc42
|
People always long for the good old days," Christopher said, his light eyes thoughtful. "We look at the past with rose-colored glasses."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
70a1831
|
He chuckled into my hair. My body decided this would be a fine moment to remember that his body was wrapped around mine and his body was muscular, hard, and hot, and my butt was pressed against his groin. Cuddled up by a dragon. No, thank you. Let me off this train. "If you keep wiggling, things might get uncomfortable," he said into my ear, his voice like a caress. "I'm doing my best, but thinking about baseball only takes you so far."
|
|
mad-rogan
nevada-baylor
|
Ilona Andrews |
93a7683
|
Well," Caldenia said. "Nobody can say that this siege is boring."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
6d98a4b
|
It's not like I could kill Curran now. It's not like I kill Curran now. I could always try. Later. The Beast Lord crossed his arms on his chest. His face looked placid. Calm before the storm . . . The jaguar at my feet tensed and tried to look smaller. Nick needed a bit of a distraction while he rode like a bat out of hell on the horse commandeered from the Pack stables. I'd provided that distraction by leading Jim and his posse of piss..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
9af70b8
|
Having a fling with you doesn't appeal to me. You're handsome, but you're too inexperienced and too arrogant to be good in bed. Having ridden many horses doesn't make you a good rider; it just proves that you can't recognize a good one or don't know how to keep her. You're too young for me, and in ten years, when you improve, I will be too old for you. So let's not speak of this again.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
06ee6f3
|
That's because I don't hunt. I'm a male lion. I weigh six hundred pounds. Do you really expect me to scamper through the brush after deer? When I want a steak, I want a damn steak. I don't want to chase it around the woods for two hours and then eat it raw. I have food brought to me, and the only time I get off my ass is when something threatens the Pack. I've been on exactly one hunt in the last three years. I went because I had to go, and..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
0ab1594
|
And you brought the ski mask?" "Yes. It's not cold, though, even up above." "It's not for the cold. The pegasi like to chase birds. Birds don't like to be chased." "Okay." Whatever that meant. Chapter 10 BIRDS WERE ASSHOLES."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
38fafc2
|
Stay near me on the way back." Surprise slapped her face. She turned it into cold arrogance. "Worried about my survival?" "Don't want to miss an opportunity to use you as a body shield." "How sweet of you." "Stay near me, Elara." He walked away before she could come back at him with something clever." --
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
f308ebc
|
It was one thing to be attracted to bad boys, something I usually didn't suffer from. It was another to be attracted to bad men. Mad Rogan was a really bad, bad man. If he wanted something, he bought it, or persuaded you to give it to him, or just simply took it. I had to make sure he didn't want me. Because if he decided he did, it would be on his terms, and I wouldn't like it. No, I would like it, which was even worse.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
cdb93ad
|
You do remember the lessons, however. Rome--corrupt, rich, and disorganized, a republic that ruled the world yet couldn't rule itself. Its senators fighting for power in vicious political squabbles; the policies of compromise forgotten in favor of personal gain. Its armies pledging their loyalty to their generals rather than to the republic they were meant to serve. Its population torn between the Optimates, supporting the traditional rule,..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
9a07f61
|
How did your day go?" "I got some head. It was vamp, but still." I stared at her. Kate was the last person I would have expected to make that joke. Well, someone had loosened up since mating. "That good, huh." "Yup."
|
|
gunmetal-magic
ilona-andrews
|
Ilona Andrews |
61d3a9f
|
Ghastek stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, sipping coffee from a white mug that read, Graveyard Shift: We do it in the dark.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
2b60afa
|
He puts himself between evil creatures and small children. He protects us. He is my monster, Commander. Should any rough men come here and try to take what is ours, he will remind them of that.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
75ed17e
|
He focused on me completely, the same way he did when he asked me a question and waited for an answer. It was almost impossible to look away. If he ever fell in love--which probably wasn't possible, given that he was likely a psychopath--his would be the kind of devotion people fantasized about.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
1b9ea09
|
You're Mad Rogan!" Leon burst out. "Yes," Mad Rogan said, his voice calm. "And you can break cities?" "Yes." "And you have all this money and magic?" "Yes." Where was Leon going with this? My cousin blinked. "And you look . . . like that?" Mad Rogan nodded. "Yes." Leon's dark eyes went wide. He looked at Mad Rogan, then glanced down at himself. At fifteen, Leon weighed barely a hundred pounds. His arms and legs were like chopsticks. "There..
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
590c008
|
I'm coming with you. Mother, lock the doors and set the alarm. We'll take the van and the Barrett." "Would the Barrett be enough?" Grandma Frida asked. "Isn't he supposed to bounce bullets off of his chest?" "It fires .50 cal at twice the speed of sound. It will hit him before he ever hears the shot." My mother crossed her arms. "I'd like to see him bounce that off his chest."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
50ff1a5
|
Rose pushed on his chest with her hand. "If you let go of me now, I'm going to chalk your mauling of me up to temporary insanity." He kissed her again, lightly brushing her lips. "Declan!" His grass green eyes laughed at her. "I wanted you to be sure that I wasn't temporarily insane."
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |
1318f17
|
Shit" Bug said, his face sour. "It's that thing again. We've been dealing with it since Pierce. You think you have a lead and then poof" - he made a puffing motion with his fingers - "it melts into nothing and all you have is frustration and the far noise your face makes when you hit you desk with it." Fart.... what?"
|
|
funny
farts
nevada-baylor
|
Ilona Andrews |
910a974
|
Six feet two inches tall and built like he could punch through solid walls and dodge a bullet at the same time, Jim projected a concentrated promise to kick your ass. It emanated from him like heat from a sidewalk. He never actually threatened you, but when he entered a room full of hard cases, bigger men backed off, because when he looked at them, they heard their bones breaking.
|
|
|
Ilona Andrews |