Can We Talk About the Romance? Swoon-Worthy Lines From Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone Series

Hey there! Today, I have another Loving the Lines for you! Loving the Lines is dedicated to books and series with stand-out quotes that need to be shared. I’m often moved by passages and lines from the books I read, and I thought this would be a great way to show the love!! Many thanks to all the wonderful writers who inspire, empower, entertain, and make people think. Today, that author is:

Leigh Bardugo 

I love the Shadow and Bone series and the Six of Crows Duology and will basically read anything Leigh Bardugo writes. Last week, I reread the Shadow and Bone series, and I plan on rereading the Six of Crows duology this month. Six of Crows actually inspired three posts on my blog last year:

• Can We Talk About the Romance? Swoon-Worthy Lines from Six of Crows
• How’d They Get So Smart? Words of Wisdom from Six of Crows
• There’s Some Humor Too – Funny Moments in Six of Crows

There are so many great lines in this series, which isn’t surprising considering Leigh Bardugo is a master storyteller! I’m super excited to see how these well-crafted stories transition to tv!

Have you seen the teaser trailer for the Shadow and Bone Netflix series yet? Check it out!

Doesn’t it look fantastic!! The casting is amazing. Kaz and Inej and Jasper! Oh my word!! And THE DARKLING?!? Perfection!! I loved the first season, and I’m so excited to see season two!!! I need more!!

Until then, here are some of my favorite swoon-worthy lines from the Shadow and Bone series.

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Shadow and Bone

Alina & The Darkling:

Then the memory of the Darkling’s kiss blew through me and rattled my concentration, scattering my thoughts like leaves and making my heart swoop and dive like a bird borne aloft by uncertain currents.

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“The problem with wanting,” he whispered, his mouth trailing along my jaw until it hovered over my lips, “is that it makes us weak.”

You’re the first glimmer of hope I’ve had in a long time.

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Alina & Mal:

I’m sorry it took me so long to see you, Alina. But I see you now.

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“Just you and me.”

“Really?”

“It’s always just you and me, Alina.”

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“Did you miss me, Alina? Did you miss me when you were gone?”

“Every day,” I said hoarsely.

“I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I’d catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I’d seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I’d realize that you weren’t there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I’ve risked my life for you. I’ve walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I’d do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don’t tell me why we don’t belong together,” he said fiercely.

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I don’t care if you danced naked on the roof of the Little Palace with him. I love you, Alina, even the part of you that loved him.

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“Mal,” I whispered into the night.

“What?”

“Thanks for finding me.”

I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming, but somewhere in the dark, I thought I heard him whisper, “Always.”

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I thought the love I’d had for him belonged to the past, to the foolish, lonely girl I never wanted to be again. I’d tried to bury that girl and the love she’d felt, just as I’d tried to bury my power. But I wouldn’t make that mistake again. Whatever burned between us was just as bright, just as undeniable. The moment our lips met, I knew with pure and piercing certainty that I would have waited for him forever.

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Siege and Storm

Alina & Nikolai:

“I want to kiss you,” Nikolai said. “But I won’t. Not until you’re thinking of me instead of trying to forget him.”

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Alina & The Darkling:

Like calls to like. I’d sense it when the Hummingbird entered the Unsea, but I’d been too afraid to embrace it. This time, I didn’t fight. I let go of my fear, my guilt, my shame. There was darkness inside me. He had put it there, and I would no longer deny it. The volcra, the nichevo’ya, they were my monsters, all of them. And he was my monster too.

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“My power is yours”, I repeated. His arms tightened around me. “And yours is mine,” I whispered against his lips.

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“I’ve seen what you truly are,” said the Darkling, “and I’ve never turned away. I never will. Can he say the same?”

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Alina & Mal:

“Thanks,” I mumbled as we crossed the square, heading toward our boardinghouse.

“For what?”

I rolled my eyes. “For defending my honor, you dullard.”

He yanked me beneath a shadowed awning. I had a moment’s panic when I thought he’d spotted trouble, but then his arms were around me and his lips were on mine. When he finally drew back, my cheeks were warm and my legs had gone wobbly.

“Just to be clear,” he said, “I’m not really interested in defending your honor.”

“Understood,” I managed, hoping I didn’t sound too ridiculously breathless.”

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It’s still the same heart, Mal. It’s still yours.

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“I thought you wanted to go.”

“I wanted you to ask me to stay.”

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“I have loved you all my life, Mal,” I whispered through my tears. “There is no end to our story.”

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Ruin and Rising

Alina & The Darkling:

“Will you say it?”

“Aleksander”

His grin faded and his grey eyes seemed to flicker.

“Again,” he said

“Aleksander.”

He leaned in. I felt his breath against my skin, just above the collar, almost a sigh.

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I felt that rush of hunger, the steady, longing beat of desire that neither of us wanted, but that gripped us anyway. We were alone in the world, unique. We were bound together and always would be.

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Alina & Mal:

Then he cupped my cheek, his thumb tracing my lip. “You are all I’ve ever wanted,” he said. “You are the whole of my heart.”

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“I would have been different too, without you. Weaker, reckless.” He smiled slightly. “Afraid of the dark.” He brushed the tears from my cheeks. I wasn’t sure when they’d started. “But no matter who or what I was, I would have been yours.”

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“Going to miss this,” he said as he kissed my cheeks, my jaw, my eyelids. “The way you taste.” He set his lips to the hollow beneath my ear. “The way you smell.” His hands slid up my back. “The way you feel.” My breath hitched as his hips settled against mine.

Then he drew back, searching my eyes. “I wanted more for you,” he said. “A white veil in your hair. Vows we could keep.”

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He laughed then. “I know I’m supposed to say something noble…But I guess I’m the same selfish ass I’ve always been. For all my talk of vows and honor, what I really want is to put you up against that wall and kiss you until you forget you ever knew another man’s name. So tell me to go, Alina. Because I can’t give you a title or an army or any of the things you need.”

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All at once, the pain in my chest was so bad it nearly bent me double. Because this was what Mal had been coming to show me. Because that look – that open, eager, happy look – had been for me. Because I would always be the first person he turned to when he saw something lovely, and I would do the same. Whether I was a Saint or a queen or the most powerful Grisha who ever lived, I would always turn to him.

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I felt as I always had in his arms—complete, like I was home.

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I grabbed his hand. He turned to me, and I didn’t stop to think. I went up on my toes and kissed him. It took him the barest second to react, then he dropped his bow and kissed me back, arms winding tight around me, the hard planes of his body pressed against mine…
He kissed me again, and this time, he didn’t stop – not until my cheeks were flushed and my heart was racing, not until I could barely remember my own name, let alone anyone else’s…

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I wasn’t afraid of you, Alina. I was afraid of losing you. That girl you were becoming didn’t need me anymore, but she’s who you were always meant to be.”

“Power hungry? Ruthless?”

“Strong.” He looked away. “Luminous.”

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When evening fell the boy would bring the girl a glass of tea, a slice of lemon cake, an apple blossom floating in a blue cup. He would kiss her neck and whisper new names in her ear: beauty, beloved, cherished, my heart.

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Genya and David:

“I … I don’t understand half of what goes on around me. I don’t get jokes or sunset or poetry, but I know metal…Beauty was your armor. Fragile stuff, all show. But what’s inside you? That’s steel. It’s brave and unbreakable. And it doesn’t need fixing.” He drew in a deep breath then awkwardly stepped forward. He took her face in his hands and kissed her.

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I just love all of these lines, and after my reread of the series, I have a new appreciation for Alina and Mal’s love story. Have you read the Shadow and Bone series? Which romance is your favorite? Comment below!