Tella Quotes

“His mouth was crashing against hers. He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“What's so dangerous about my arms?' he murmured.
'For me, everything.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“There were shipwrecks more graceful than Tella.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“Arrogant. Overconfident. Vain. Impossible. She hated the way he refused to leave her alone, how he took her insults the same way other boys might take a compliment, and that his interest in her was clearly only part of his role. And yet she could never seem to push him away.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“I don't know if you're my true love, Donatella. All I know is that I want you to be.”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale

“Why aren’t you dressed like a leopard with butterfly wings, or a unicorn?”
A sliver of a grin. “Not even Legend could make me dress like a unicorn.”
“But unicorns are magical, and then all the ladies would want to pet you.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“Tella claimed she didn’t want love—she liked to say love trapped and controlled and ripped hearts apart. But the truth was she also knew love healed and held people together, and deep down she wanted it more than anything. She enjoyed the kisses, but a part of her always wished that whenever she walked away from a boy he’d run after her, beg her to stay, and then promise he’d never leave.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“For the rest of her life, whenever she thought about heartbreak, she would see the way he looked at her.”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale

“Tella often imagined she knew what people thought when they saw her. One look at her honey-blond curls, her girlish smile, and her pretty dresses, coupled with the fact that she liked to enjoy herself, and people dismissed her as a silly girl. Tella might have been many things, but she was far from silly or worthless or whatever labels people liked to affix because a person was young and female. Tella liked to think that was where much of her strength came from. She was bold. She was brave. She was cunning. And she was going to come out of this triumphant—no matter the cost.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“And you’re wrong if you think I don’t want you. I’ve wanted you for so long, and I’ll never stop wanting you.”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale

“Nothing about him was soft. His chest felt like a block of marble and yet she could have closed her eyes, curled up against him, and gone to sleep forever.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“Weren’t you the one who said you see girls the same way we see party dresses, only to be used once?”
“Clearly I view you a little differently.” He reached for one of her errant curls and wound it around one tattooed finger, the black rose on the back of his hand spinning until it turned red beneath the ruby starlight. With every turn he drew her closer. He made it easy to ignore her achy legs and her dying heart. He twisted the hair around his finger in the same way she imagined he wanted to wrap her around his finger. As if she would ever let him.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“The first time I met her, she threatened to throw me from a sky carriage.'

'And you liked her for that?' Evangeline asked.

'I'd just threatened to kill her.' He said it as if they'd been flirting.

'This is a terrible love story, Jacks.'

'Who said it was a love story?' His tone turned back to acid.”
― Stephanie Garber, Once Upon a Broken Heart

“As fantastical as Caraval might feel, the next five nights are very real.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“I pulled you from the snow, Tella. You couldn't even keep your eyes open.'

I roll my eyes to show him how well they work now.”
― Victoria Scott, Salt & Stone

“Misery filled his eyes. "You were supposed to be my one true love. you were supposed to want me, not him. you were supposed to be as obsessed with me as I am with you.”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale

“Dante looked up and gave her a fallen star's smile. 'You should always wear flowers.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“You know,' Tella mused, 'if I didn't hate you, I might actually enjoy your company.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“The garment he'd sent had straps made of flower petals, a bodice made of ribbons lined in gems as small as glitter and a full skirt formed of hundreds of silk butterflies, all in different shades of blue that together formed a magical hue she'd never seen. Some had sheer blue wings that were almost as pale as tears, others were soft sky blue, a few had hints of violet, while some had periwinkle veins. The butterflies weren't alive, but they were so delicate and ethereal, at a glance they looked real.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“I think love is another type of magic. It makes everything brighter, it makes people who have it stronger, it breaks rules that aren’t supposed to exist, it’s infinitely valuable. I can’t imagine life without it. And if you felt any love in your heart, you would understand.”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale

“Women and men with bodies covered in feathers and heads crowned with tiny curved horns dangled from the ceiling, twirling and spinning around thick sheets of gold or magenta silk that hung like massive party ribbons. Below them, performers in costumes made of fur, more feathers and paint slathered over skin, prowled and crawled as if they were wild chimeras escaped from another world. Tella saw performers dressed to look like tigers with dragon wings, horses with forked tails, snakes with lion manes, and wolves with ram horns, who growled and nipped and sometimes licked at the hells of guests. There were a few low balconies where shirtless men with wings as large as angels' and fallen stars pushed grinning couples back and forth on giant swings hanging from canopies of thorns and flowers.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“Her searching gaze wove past actors on stilts, covered in cream and chestnut fur, and men decorated to look like swans with fangs, rowing upside-down polka-dot umbrellas through flower-covered streams that led toward the center of the ballroom.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary

“Everything smelled of dust trapped in light, cracked leather and wayward dreams. Breathing in and out through her nose, Tella looked down at the Map of All. It had transformed once they'd entered the library. It now revealed an entire kingdom made of books that could either have been a book lover's nightmare or their wish come true. There was a Broken Spine Castle, an Unread River, a Ravine of Ripped Pages, a Poetry Valley, a set of Novel Mountains, and then finally, the Ruscica and Books for Advanced Imaginations.

The most direct route to this room was through an area referred to as The Zoo. Tella wondered if it would have books in cages, but The Zoo didn't even have bookshelves. The books all roamed freely in this room as they clung together to take the shapes of different animals. Tella spied bookish rhinos, paper-mache elephants and very tall giraffes that milled about in an oddly peaceful silence. The elephant sniffed at Tella with its leathery-grey trunk of books, while a paper bunny made of loose pages noiselessly hopped after Legend. The bunny continued to follow as they left The Zoo and reached The Reading Chamber, where books formed couches and chairs and one massive throne.”
― Stephanie Garber, Excerpt: Finale

“But Legend touched her back or her shoulder every few steps, letting her know that he was still there. He was with her, and he wasn't leaving even though she couldn't see or hear him. It made her wonder at all the other things he'd said to her in the past without words.”
― Stephanie Garber, Finale

“Don’t tell yourself we’re pretending to be engaged, tell yourself that I love you. That I want you more than anyone.”
― Stephanie Garber, Legendary