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Divine Rivals

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“It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals tags: feelings-and-emotions, life, rd16 380 likes Like “I think we all wear armor. I think those who don’t are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by the sharp edges of the world, over and over again. But if I’ve learned anything from those fools, it is that to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear. It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals tags: feelings-and-emotions, life, love, rd16 192 likes Like “In the meantime, I hope you will find your place, wherever you are. Even in the silence, I hope you will find the words you need to share.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals tags: feelings-and-emotions, life, love, rd16 185 likes Like “I love the words I write until I soon realize how much I hate them, as if I am destined to always be at war within myself.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 140 likes Like “I don’t want to wake up when I’m seventy-four only to realize I haven’t lived.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 139 likes Like “That’s it. You’re doing great, Winnow.” “Shut up, Kitt.” “Absolutely. Whatever you want.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 127 likes Like “I never told you that I love you. And I regret that, most of all.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals tags: regret, romance 114 likes Like “Iris,” said Roman, “you are worthy of love. You are worthy to feel joy right now, even in the darkness. And just in case you’re wondering … I’m not going anywhere, unless you tell me to leave, and even then, we might need to negotiate.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 110 likes Like “But I think there is a magical link between you and me. A bond that not even distance can break.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 105 likes Like “Write me a story where there is no ending, Kitt. Write to me and fill my empty spaces.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 103 likes Like “It’s not a crime to feel joy, even when things seem hopeless. Iris, look at me. You deserve all the happiness in the world. And I intend to see that you have it.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 99 likes Like “My favorite season is autumn, because my mum and I both believed that’s the only time when magic can be tasted in the air.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 91 likes Like “I would love to see you burn with splendor. I would love to see your words catch fire with mine.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 84 likes Like “to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 73 likes Like “He found me on my darkest day. He followed me to war, to the front lines. He came between me and Death, taking wounds that were supposed to be mine.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 72 likes Like “I don’t think you realize how strong you are, because sometimes strength isn’t swords and steel and fire, as we are so often made to believe. Sometimes it’s found in quiet, gentle places. The way you hold someone’s hand as they grieve. The way you listen to others. The way you show up, day after day, even when you are weary or afraid or simply uncertain. That is strength, and I see it in you.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 70 likes Like “Their souls weren’t mirrors but complements, constellations that burned side by side.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 66 likes Like “For anyone who sought a different realm through a wardrobe door, Who wrote a letter and is still waiting for a reply, Or who dreams of stories and bleeds words.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 63 likes Like “I pray that my days will be long at your side. Let me fill and satisfy every longing in your soul. May your hand be in mine, by sun and by night. Let our breaths twine and our blood become one, until our bones return to dust. Even then, may I find your soul still sworn to mine.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 61 likes Like “And I’m not afraid to be alone, but I’m tired of being the one left behind.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 61 likes Like “She walks with grace upon the clouds, and the stars know her by name.” ― Rebecca Ross, The Queen's Rising 59 likes Like “But I realize that people are just people, and they carry their own set of fears, dreams, desires, pains, and mistakes. I can’t expect someone else to make me feel complete; I must find it on my own. And I think I was always writing for myself, to sort through my loss and worry and tangled ambitions. Even now, I think about how effortless it is to lose oneself in words, and yet also find who you are.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 55 likes Like “If you were a storm, I would lie down and rest in your rain. If you were a river, I would drink from your currents. If you were a poem, I would never cease to read you. I adore the girl you once were, and I love the woman you have become.” ― Rebecca Ross, The Queen's Resistance tags: cartier, romance 47 likes Like “Sometimes,” Iris began, “I don’t think we know what we’re made of until the worst moment possible happens. Then we must decide who we truly are and what is most important to us. I think we’re often surprised by what we become.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 46 likes Like “You mentioned the other day that you think I’m only here to ‘outshine’ you. But that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I broke my engagement, quit my job, and traveled six hundred kilometers into war-torn land to be with you, Iris.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 44 likes Like “Should I be surprised that I was falling in love with you a second time? Should I be surprised that your words found me here, even in the darkness? That I’ve been carrying your E. letters close to my heart like they are a shield to protect me?” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 44 likes Like “That is a true gift, to help others see the world in a different way.” ― Rebecca Ross, The Queen's Rising 44 likes Like “Even in the silence, I hope you will find the words you need to share.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 39 likes Like “Soon it would be night; the stars would pierce the sky like nails, and he would light the candles and write by fire because the words came easier in the darkness.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 32 likes Like “You may not be a goddess, but nor am I a god. Despite our mundane lives, perhaps we make our own magic with words.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows “Sometimes things must break before they can be made whole again, so that they can be forged into something stronger.” ― Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath 30 likes Like “And he thought, There is no magic above or below that will ever steal this from me again.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 28 likes Like “And yet I keep moving forward. On some days, I’m afraid, but most days, I simply want to achieve those things I dream of.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 28 likes Like “She has to survive this, Roman thought. He didn’t want to live in a world without her and her words.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 28 likes Like “I betrayed you,” Roman began, “because I love her.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 27 likes Like “How do you make your life your own and not feel guilt over it?” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 27 likes Like “Let us make our names exactly what we want them to be.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals tags: feelings-and-emotions, life, rd16 26 likes Like “The magic still gathers, and the past is gilded; I see the beauty in what has been but only because I have tasted both sorrow and joy in equal measures.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 25 likes Like “How I love to lose to you. How I love to read your words and hear the thoughts that sharpen your mind. And how I would love to be on my knees before you now, surrendering to you and you alone.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 25 likes Like “If my words have bewitched your son, then know that his possess the same magic for me,” she said, reflexively touching her wedding band again.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 23 likes Like “As for my part, I was books and journals and loose papers.” ― Rebecca Ross, The Queen's Rising 23 likes Like “Keep writing. You will find the words you need to share. They are already within you, even in the shadows, hiding like jewels. —C.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 21 likes Like “They would be friends until they both finally acknowledged the truth. And they would have everything that other couples had—the arguments and the hand-holding in the market and the gradual exploration of their bodies and the birthday celebrations and the journeys to new cities and the living as one and sharing a bed and the gradual sense of melting into each other. Their names would be entwined—Roman and Iris or Winnow and Kitt because could you truly have one without the other?” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 21 likes Like “You betrayed me for a woman?” Dacre said. “You are the greatest fool in my forces, as well as my greatest shame.” The words rolled off Roman. He smiled, feeling like he had swallowed a flame. It was lighting up his marrow. Illuminating his veins. “Oh, I would betray you a hundredfold,” he said, his voice rising. “I would betray you a thousandfold for her.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 20 likes Like “She and Roman would survive this war. They would have the chance to grow old together, year by year. They would be friends until they both finally acknowledged the truth. And they would have everything that other couples had—the arguments and the hand-holding in the market and the gradual exploration of their bodies and the birthday celebrations and the journeys to new cities and the living as one and sharing a bed and the gradual sense of melting into each other. Their names would be entwined—Roman and Iris or Winnow and Kitt because could you truly have one without the other?—and they would write on their typewriters and ruthlessly edit each other’s pieces and read books by candlelight at night.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 19 likes Like “She was broken by what could have been. By what now would never be.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 19 likes Like “It was only a book, but it felt far more than leather and paper and ink. It felt like something to tether her in the coming days, something to protect her as well as encourage her to keep going.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 18 likes Like “A shiver coursed through him as he looked up at the moon and the stars. He remembered everything.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 17 likes Like “do we live by our past, or do we live by what is to come? Do we choose to waste time looking behind to things that have already happened and cannot be changed, or do we keep our sight forward on what we can see?” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 17 likes Like “Let me be your secret, then. Tuck my words into your pocket. Let them be your armor.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 15 likes Like “Write me a story where there is no ending, Kitt.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows tags: desperate, longing, love, nostalgic 15 likes Like “But fathers often underestimate their daughters, don’t they?” ― Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath 15 likes Like “But I realize that people are just people, and they carry their own set of fears, dreams, desires, pains, and mistakes. I can’t expect someone else to make me feel complete; I must find it on my own.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 14 likes Like “This is how we prepare for war, I thought as a dark peace wove between the queen and me. This is how we face the unexpected—not by our swords and our shields and our armor. Not even by the woad we paint upon our skin. We are ready because of sisterhood, because our bonds go deeper than blood. We rise for the queens of our past, and for the queens to come.” ― Rebecca Ross, The Queen's Rising 14 likes Like “I would love to see your words catch fire with mine.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 14 likes Like “But time will slowly heal you, as it is doing for me. There are good days and there are difficult days. Your grief will never fully fade; it will always be with you—a shadow you carry in your soul—but it will become fainter as your life becomes brighter. You will learn to live outside of it again, as impossible as that may sound. Others who share your pain will also help you heal. Because you are not alone. Not in your fear or your grief or your hopes or your dreams. You are not alone.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 14 likes Like “I think we all wear armor. I think those who don’t are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by the sharp edges of the world, over and over again. But if I’ve learned anything from those fools, it is that to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear. It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, ‘You will miss so much by being so guarded.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 13 likes Like “I am so afraid. And yet how I long to be vulnerable and brave when it comes to my own heart.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 12 likes Like “Dreams often revealed one’s greatest vulnerability; dreams were doors that led into hearts and minds and souls and secrets.” ― Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath 12 likes Like “Oh, I would betray you a hundredfold,” he said, his voice rising. “I would betray you a thousandfold for her.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows “But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.” Perhaps it begins with one person. Someone you trust. You remove a piece of armor for them; you let the light stream in, even if it makes you wince. Perhaps that is how you learn to be soft yet strong,” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 11 likes Like “I grew something living in a season of death.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 11 likes Like “You remove a piece of armor for them; you let the light stream in, even if it makes you wince. Perhaps that is how you learn to be soft yet strong, even in fear and uncertainty.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 11 likes Like “Welcome home, my old menace.” ― Rebecca Ross, A River Enchanted 11 likes Like “This place was dark and quiet with dreams.” ― Rebecca Ross, A River Enchanted 10 likes Like “Do you ever feel as if you wear armor, day after day? That when people look at you, they see only the shine of steel that you’ve so carefully encased yourself in? They see what they want to see in you—the warped reflection of their own face, or a piece of the sky, or a shadow cast between buildings. They see all the times you’ve made mistakes, all the times you’ve failed, all the times you’ve hurt them or disappointed them. As if that is all you will ever be in their eyes. How do you change something like that? How do you make your life your own and not feel guilt over it?” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 10 likes Like “My Iris,” he said, “there is no question that you are the brave one, all on your own. You were writing to me for weeks before I roused the courage to write you back. You walked into the Gazette and took me and my ego on without a blink. You were the one who came to the front lines, unafraid to look into the ugly face of war long before I did. I don’t know who I would be without you, but you have made me in all ways better than I ever was or could have ever hoped to be.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 10 likes Like “You know what I am,” he said in a flat voice. “A bard?” “A bastard. I have no father, no proud lineage, no lands. I have nothing to offer you, Adaira.” “There is much you can offer me,” she countered, heady from the mere thought of his music. Spirits below, he had no idea the power he wielded. “And those things you mention don’t matter to me.” “But they matter to me,” Jack said, with a fist over his heart. “People will be appalled when they realize you want to marry me. That you chose me. Out of all the men in the east, I am the most unworthy.” “Let them,” Adaira said. “Let them be appalled, let them talk. Let them say whatever they want, it will soon fade, I promise you. And when it fades…it will be you and me and the truth. And that is all that matters in the end.” ― Rebecca Ross, A River Enchanted 9 likes Like “P.S. A typo? No, Winnow. I simply forgot to add a footnote, which should have read as: *outshine: transitive verb a. to shine brighter than b. to excel in splendor or showiness You remember how you said that word to me in the infirmary, post-trenches? You believed I had come to the Bluff to outshine you. And I would speak this word back to you now, but only because I would love to see you burn with splendor. I would love to see your words catch fire with mine.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 9 likes Like “Perhaps love was not something easily forgotten, even when it had burned down to ashes.” ― Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath 9 likes Like “How utterly sobering it was, then, to realize how seldom daydreams like that aligned with reality.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 9 likes Like “Agreed. Let us dare to change the tides. Write to me and fill my empty spaces.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 9 likes Like “She realized this was her family now. That there were bonds that ran deeper than blood.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 8 likes Like “And just for one moonrise, let us act as if there are no burdens weighing us down. No responsibilities or tomorrows.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 8 likes Like “Write me of hope and love, and hearts that endured. —EMILY DICKINSON” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 8 likes Like “I want your hand to be in mine, no matter what comes.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 8 likes Like “Iris frowned. “You’re distracting me, Kitt.” “I’m pleased to hear it. Now you know how I’ve felt all this bloody time, Iris.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 8 likes Like “And how I would love to be on my knees before you now, surrendering to you and you alone.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 8 likes Like “Endings were often found in beginnings,” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 8 likes Like “But your art creates a window into another world,” I said, smiling at her. “That is a true gift, to help others see the world in a different way.” ― Rebecca Ross, The Queen's Rising 8 likes Like “I don’t think you can even begin to understand what your words mean to me. Even if they were addressed to Forest in the beginning. You were a sister writing to her missing older brother. And I felt that pain as a brother who had lost the only sibling he ever had.” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 7 likes Like “There is always pain in healing,” the lieutenant interrupted. “To fully avoid it is impossible.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 7 likes Like “But all good things eventually came to an end. And all songs had a final verse.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 7 likes Like “It will make you colder. But even the deepest of ice eventually gives way to fire, Clementine.” ― Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath 7 likes Like “You told me to get on my knees before you and apologize,” he said. “This is me saying I’m sorry, for all that I have done to you, for all the heartache I have caused, for giving you no choice but to resort to the most wildest of plans to ease the pain I wrought. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but this one thing I seek, so that I may remain near you.” I must have stared at him for a long, excruciating moment, because he whispered my name. I shifted across the mattress, sitting on the edge of the bed before him, my feet touching the floor. I was afraid to speak—even his name might break me—and I took his face in my hands. Phelan’s arms came around me. “Tell me what you want me to do,” he said. “Tell me to leave, and I will.” My fingers slid into his hair. “Stay,” I whispered.” ― Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath 7 likes Like “One does not realize how powerful a dream is, in the sleeping world as well as the waking one, until it has been stolen from them.” ― Rebecca Ross, Dreams Lie Beneath 7 likes Like “You will regret breaking my bones. You will regret ever taking Iris from my mind. You will release something from my marrow that you will wish you had never touched.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows 7 likes Like “She stumbled to her feet. The world spun for a moment—melting stars and a vermillion sunrise and the flap of a bird’s wings.” ― Rebecca Ross, A River Enchanted 6 likes Like “I love you, Iris. And I want you to see me. I want you to know me. Through the smoke and the firelight and kilometers that once dwelled between us. Do you see me?” ― Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals 6 likes Like “They were three strides away from the door when there was a startling bright light, as if a star had fallen. A pressure in his ears, a boom that he felt in his chest. Even then, Forest never let go of her hand.” ― Rebecca Ross, Ruthless Vows

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