“You can’t force love, I realized. It’s there or it isn’t. If it’s not there, you’ve got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.”
a heart of gold can still turn to rot. what he wrote, what he did, was all done for naught. his cards are but weapons, his kingdom now cruel. shepherd of folly, king of the fools.
“I had no idea what unconditional love looked like until you, Josephine. You taught me how to be like this, and I will love you whether or not you’re helping me win some fucking game. We are bigger than a game.”
“You don’t know anything about what it’s like to find your other half, I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.”
