A.g. Howard Quotes

Tearing down the rest of the world won't make you happy. Look inside yourself. Because finding who you were meant to be? What you were put into this world to do? That's what fills the emptiness. It's the only things that can.

~ A.g. Howard

And there, in the midst of blinding orange, yellow, and white flames, our forever begins.

~ A.g. Howard

Shh. I squeeze his hand. His palm feels clammy. We have to keep it down, okay? We don't want my dad coming in.He grits his teeth against more shivers. Always knew I'd end up in your bed . . . and hear you say those words one day. He manages a smirk.Jeb snarls. Unbelievable. Even when he's at death's door he's a tool. He arranges a pillow beneath Morpheus's neck. Why don't you keep your mouth shut while we help you.Morpheus laughs weakly, his skin flashing with blue light. What say Alyssa--his breath rattles--give my mouth something else to do?

~ A.g. Howard

Another thread snaps loose from my heart, the pain precise and acute. I embrace it, because it reminds me I'm still here. I'm alive. I'm empowered.

~ A.g. Howard

The Phantom is not famous for forgiveness.

~ A.g. Howard

Behind every wall and every mirror and every vent, I hear sounds: breathing, rustling, footsteps, and murmurs. I try to tell myself it’s just mice making their nests behind the barriers, but since when do rodents whisper?

~ A.g. Howard

An old childhood playmate once told me ‘second guessing every step prevents any forward momentum. Trust yourself. Forgive yourself. And move on.

~ A.g. Howard

You have that boy on such a high pedestal. It’s far too slippery up there for one so unprincipled as a solitary fae. It’s not as if I haven’t tried to drag him down. I looked inside his soul. Hoped to find his weaknesses. Only to discover that even those could be considered strengths under the right circumstances.

~ A.g. Howard

We talk and tease and bargain with the main dish. Maniacal laughter echoes in the marble halls, sweet to my ears.There’s movement at the banquet hall’s entrance. A child with my eyes tumbles in—all wings and blue hair and giggling innocence. Holding his hand is Morpheus, wearing a ruby crown.The Red King. My king.The bubble bursts and takes the vision with it, leaving nothing but the sound of my gasp and wisps of gray smoke behind.“You see,” Ivory says, “once Morpheus knew that one day you would belong to him and he to you, that you would share a child, he was no longer willing to die to save Wonderland. But he’s insecure about your feelings for him. He feared you would refuse to help. So he made a new plan, however flawed it was.

~ A.g. Howard

What went on between you and my mom? Did you seduce all the Liddell women? Did you tell them the same pretty words you told me?” I curl my legs beneath my dress, feeling small and vulnerable for even a

~ A.g. Howard

We have regiments as innumerable as the sands...And arsenals as uncountable as the stars.

~ A.g. Howard

I’m about to berate his tactics, to deny any feelings for him, when he cups the nape of my neck and presses his lips to mine, velvety soft. It’s nothing but a peck, yet the flavor of the tart he sampled lingers like a warm, savory bruise—an irresistible torment to the netherling within.He draws back and my skin glistens, radiant prisms reflected off his face and the cushions. I’m gripping his jacket lapels, yet I don’t even remember reaching fo

~ A.g. Howard

They have both loved you with a child’s love, and now a man’s. It is the child’s love that holds you together . . . cemented by the moments you shared with them that they treasure most.

~ A.g. Howard

Memories, real and irreplaceable, all of them. The happy ones, the bitter ones, the terrified and the poignant.

~ A.g. Howard

I grin, and he beams with

~ A.g. Howard

So many emotions flicker over him—astonishment, concern, remorse . . . and the always-present adoration. I raise my hand toward his face and he winces, as if anticipating a slap. Instead, I stroke his cheek and those beautifully expressive jewels under his eyes, then lift to my toes and press my lips to his. His flavor and warmth envelop me. He moans and cups my face on either side, kissing me deeper, but I pull

~ A.g. Howard

A muffled curse comes from the doorway. I jerk my head to find Jeb there, blood drained from his face. His gaze is fierce yet dejected, a deep and gut-twisting wound I haven’t seen since his dad was alive and tormenting him.

~ A.g. Howard

When he opens his mouth to speak, I place a finger on his

~ A.g. Howard

I pretend to reach for them, but before he can guess my intentions, I catch one of his wings instead. He flutters, trying to break loose, his one free wing batting my hand.I draw out the decanter and stuff him into it, careful to fold his wings. I don’t want to hurt him. I just want to better him.Once he’s settled inside, I shove a paper towel into the bottle’s neck. No need to worry that he’ll smother. After all, he spent that night in a bug trap last year and sur

~ A.g. Howard

Guard your throats and hide your eyes. He’s not dead, you fools. Legends never die.

~ A.g. Howard

How do you hate someone who pulled you from the brink of death, not once, but twice?

~ A.g. Howard

Ironically, the first time he played it, he experienced his first dream vision with his own ‘flame jumelle’, Rune – and saved her from drowning. Thereafter he decided that must be the magic the instrument held: the ability to bring two souls together when they needed each other the most.

~ A.g. Howard

This can’t be a coincidence, and there’s no longer any doubt in my mind. I am in a horror story.

~ A.g. Howard

He raised his wine for a toast. “To the Exquisite Nightmare.

~ A.g. Howard

Maybe being here won’t be so bad after all… as long as I can avoid the music, the bloodthirsty diva duo, and the phantom’s shadow lurking around every corner.

~ A.g. Howard

I need to know why I’m so broken, so I can fix myself. One way or another. Maybe this place can help me do that, and then I can finally look forward to my future. Because I’m starting to realize there’s something worse than stepping up and facing your fears – and that’s living as if you’re already dead.

~ A.g. Howard

His soft lips glide across my jaw. I’m dazzled by his touch, drugged by his promises, falling deeper and deeper into him. Before he reaches my mouth, I catch his hands and roll him off until he’s the one on his back, his wings no longer a hiding place but silky black pools along the g

~ A.g. Howard

He spins us both, wrapping us in his wings until I’m dazed and gig

~ A.g. Howard

Before I can even ask what he means, he skims his licorice-scented lips across my forehead—just shy of touching—his warm breath dragging across my left eye patch, then down a cheek, toward my mouth. The corner of my mouth tickles as he passes over it; then his breath stops to hover across my chin.His palms rest against the wall on either side of my head. He lets the web serve as his hands, his breath serve as his lips, holding me immobile and kissing me without ever touching me.

~ A.g. Howard

Oh, but my netherling side did, and she casts my human armor aside.She guides my hands, knots my fingers through his hair, teases his tongue with hers. She won’t let me pull away, because she wants to be there again. In Wonderland, where his tobacco-flavored kisses always take us . . .Because the things I loathe are the things she adores: His snark, his infuriating condescension. His menacing mastery of half-truths and riddles. The way he shoves me into the face of danger, forces me to look beyond my fears and reach for my full potential.Most of all, because he encourages me to believe in the madness ...in her . . . the darker side of myself: the queen who was born to reign over the Red kingdom and to give Wonderland a legacy of dreams and imagination.His gloved palms seek the bend of my waist, the bow of my hips. He moves me on top of him, so close there’s not enough space for a blade of grass between us. His kisses grow insistent, desperate. His flavor winds through me, fruit and smoke and earth, and other things born of shadows and storms . . . things I can’t put a name to.

~ A.g. Howard

We're both so into it, neither of us hears the footsteps until a snarl breaks us apart. We turn to find Morpheus standing there with enough rage in his black eyes to send the Devil packing for heaven.Jeb tugs his fingers from the rings in my belt but keeps a hand at my lower back. I touch my lips; they're throbbing and gluttonous, hungry for

~ A.g. Howard

I curse him silently for moving my hands as he raises them to study the scars. He kisses them, his lips a fluid brush along sensitive flesh, then places them on his cheeks.Mouth inches from mine, he whispers, Forgive me for bringing you into this. There was no other way. His skin is softer than clouds must feel, and the tears gathering around my fingertips are hot and tangible. But are they sincere?Our breaths swirl between us, and his black eyes swallow me whole. My heart knocks against the bottom of his rib cage. I know what's coming next. I fear it. But it's the surest way to distract him and get the wish. And if it has to happen, I'm going to be the instigator.Rising up on my toes, I press my mouth to his. He moans, frees my wrists, and sweep-s me into his arms—sealing the teddy bear between us.

~ A.g. Howard

Jeb moans, wraps my legs around his waist, and holds me tight. He breaks contact just long enough to whisper, Where'd you learn to kiss like that?You taught me. I recover my senses and realize what I said. In my dreams.Oh, yeah? He nudges the indentation on my chin with his nose. Been dreaming of me, too, huh?Ever since the day we met. Finally, the truth.He flashes his dimples. Guess it's time for us to make some dreams come true, skater girl.

~ A.g. Howard

Yes. But I let you leave again, last year after you were crowned. And all those nights I brought you to Wonderland in your dreams, even though it pained me for you to abandon our dreamscapes and return to the mortal realm, I let you go each morning to live your reality there. It may not seem much when compared to your mortal’s gallantry. But for me—self-seeking, arrogant prig that I am—that is the sincerest form of sacrifice. Letting you go. Do you not see that?

~ A.g. Howard

The rabbit hole has collapsed, and my key is melded to a nugget of worthless metal.

~ A.g. Howard

I am mad, and I embrace it.

~ A.g. Howard

I know how to emulate crazy.

~ A.g. Howard

You crave chaos. You're happiest when the world is in an uproar. You thrive on madness. Even when your magic is at its best when it's the catalyst to confusion. You still can't admit this?

~ A.g. Howard

You understand the logic behind the illogical, Alyssa. It's in your nature to find tranquility amid the madness. And that's what we're doing here. We are giving our food a fighting chance.

~ A.g. Howard

But I do, and the barbed wire tightens once more, until my heart is strangled and broken.

~ A.g. Howard