When you spend so long trapped in darkness, Lucien, you find that the darkness begins to stare back. - Sarah J. Maas

It would not take a monster to destroy a monster - but light, light to drive out darkness.

I was burning through books every day - stories about people and places I'd never heard of. They were perhaps the only thing that kept me from teetering into utter despair.

In the garden, the Captain of the Guard stared up at the young woman's balcony, watching as she waltzed alone, lost in her dreams. But he knew her thoughts weren't of him.

She stopped and stared upward. Even from a distance, he could see the blush upon her cheeks. She seemed young — no, new. It made his chest ache.

Still, he watched, watched until she sighed and went inside. She never bothered to look below.