Thread by @27_lmfv

I present the beginning of a thread in which I react to and pluck quotes from @AuthorSAMcAuley's #TheBordersWar series 🤓📚.

"Face to face, and rifle to rifle. The time and location change, but never the circumstance."
#TheBordersWar

"It was the memory of his laugh—a cold and yet raucous rumble of dominance—that echoed in my head."
I mean, am I supposed to find this attractive? Because I do.
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

I feel like I shouldn't trust Jegs...
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"Put the rifle down, Merq." 🥰
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"He was danger—deadly—but even more, he was unadulterated want." 😍
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"“Questions. Always with the questions.”
“It’s an effective tactic.”
“Only when the other party isn’t aware you are using it as a deflection.”"
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"The sensation of his skin on mine, the intermingling contrasting temperatures of my fevered heat and his unnatural chill, set my nerves on edge."
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"We could kill each other, here, now, without thought, without hesitation. But neither of us made the move."
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"I knew exactly what we were doing, and just how wrong it was, but I didn’t fucking care."
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"“I will catch you the next time around”"
I love Armise 😂.
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"We’d been too young to fully grasp our own mortality or the inherent weakness of our minds and bodies."
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"“You going to come talk to me or just lurk in the darkness?” I asked out loud, turning to face the ocean. And Armise."
Armise, you creep 😂😂
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"“You won’t hurt me, let alone kill me,” I challenged him. I took one step closer so I was flush against him."
Since when did Merq make the first move?! Hats off to you, sir.
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"“I’m sorry, Merq. This time you are wrong.”"
@AuthorSAMcAuley!!!
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"My doubt—not fire and certainly nothing of the natural world—was a flagrant weakness it was my responsibility to eliminate."
#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"Cold steadied my actions and molded my intent in ways I was loath to examine with any depth. Cold equated Armise."

Whipppppppppppped.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"I was more attuned to the preferences of creatures in a distant clime than I was of a man I shared genetic material with."

Well, this resonates.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"The bass of his cadence rolled through me, the precision of his clipped consonants and lilting vowels more familiar than any other voice on earth."

I can't help but I find this so incredibly attractive 🥰.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"We glared at each other across the table— a challenge that didn’t need to be spoken because it was always there. A living, breathing third entity at the table with us. Between us always."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"We all had our secrets. In fact, I seriously doubted there was a place for truth in this world. Maybe there never had been and never would be. Those who hoped, who prayed to a nonexistent god, were fooling themselves. Living a lie."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"There were too many shades and shadows— differing perceptions— for the search for truth to be a valid journey. We all lived in a world of shifting loyalties and selfish motivation and to pretend otherwise was foolish."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"His heated gaze raked over me, making his underlying meaning completely clear to me.
...
And I couldn’t say no. I didn’t want to say no."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"Maybe if I said that enough times I’d believe it."

Oh, honey, life just does not work that way.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"The storm. My mission. My death.
Armise.
...
I couldn’t afford to get this close to him. Even on the eve of my death. And yet I didn’t move."

Oh, just... all of the feels right here 🙈.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

I'm sorry, he has to do what now?
Did not see that coming.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"His rifle wasn’t a possession, it was an extension of his body."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"It was as simple as undeniable attraction. As complicated as an instinctual tether that should have been too theoretical and illogical for either of us to believe in, but that neither of us seemed to be able to free ourselves from."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"I’d been unable to deny him. And I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, regret one moment of that time."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"I didn’t know if it had been minutes or hours when I finally heard the bolt on the metal door grinding open."

Really? We're really doing this? If this was a show, I'd be watching between my fingers 🙈.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"Armise was the lightning strike in my storm. He appeared without warning ... leaving me dazed, unsteady, and blinking back stars.
...
And yet it was like I stood defiantly in the storm
...
As if I came alive in that moment of impact."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"“You’re an idiot, you know that?”"

Oh, oh, oh! 🥰🥰🥰

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"He was the one thing in my life that was still my choice."

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

He didn't know for twelve years, @AuthorSAMcAuley?! TWELVE?!?!

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"There were words said between us. Ones that were unspoken but unmistakable. And I knew why I’d grown to trust him.
Because I could."

Swooooon 🥰.

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"I inhaled, readjusted my aim, and took my shot."

Oh my God. The feeling that sentence causes...

#TheBordersWar #OneBreathOneBullet

"“How the fuck long after?”
...
“Immediately.”"

You what?! Well, Ahriman's a dick!

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“I believe I said fuck you.”
“And that is supposed to be my cue to leave? It is as if you do not know me at all.”"

And this is why I love Armise 😂💁🏻‍♀️.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"Being with him was an instinct and a drive I hadn’t been born with but existed deep within me nonetheless."

🥰

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"But now I was rethinking everything. Re- evaluating our time together through the lens of confession and hidden loyalties."

I love it when something makes you do this. I can't wait to reread #OneBreathOneBullet knowing the truth about Armise.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“What do you need?”"

This bloody line. It gets me every single time. Whether I read it or hear it or see it it just gets to me and I melt into a huge puddle of feelings 🥰.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

And, you, @AuthorSAMcAuley, wield it so bloody well. It got me every single time in #ITSB. It's like my kryptonite, I read it and I'm a goner!

"“Perception matters, Merq.”
I knew what he was saying, but I couldn’t have cared less."

Squee! Somebody put on his big boy boots this morning, didn't he?

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“People need love, Merq. Why else fight?”"

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“You are the piece that when left on the table people are clueless as to why the machine no longer operates as smoothly as it should.”"

Oh 😍.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

Them conversing whilst Merq removes Armise's beard for him is just so... unexpectedly domestic and fluffy.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“You’re only powerless if you let them take away your power.”"

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“That is why I am here. We fight together and the world has no choice but to drop to their knees and beg for mercy.”"

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"As always the real world fell away and all I could think about was this man and the unrelenting pace he silently commanded of me."

There is absolutely nothing better than these moments in life 👌🏻.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it wasn’t that Armise and I had nowhere else to go.
Maybe this—us—was the only stability either of us had anymore. And I could be okay with that or I could fight it. Embrace it or shut him out."

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

I love that Armise is always on Merq's right hand side. It's such a small but sweet gesture.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"Everyone had a breaking point— even me."

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“And how Armise and I end up positioned together should be even further down your list of worries.”"

Sassy Merq is sassy 🤺.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

Can daddy dearest just sit on a garden gnome already, please? 🙄.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"And despite the unknown variables ... There was nothing I didn’t recognize. Nothing I couldn’t see. There was nothing in our relationship for me to second- guess or mistrust.
I trusted Armise Darcan."

As you should, Merq. As you should 💪🏻.

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"“My loyalty is to you, not to any of them. We stand together on this. There is no other option. Not for me.”"

😍

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"I didn’t know how much more I could take. This was torture and desire and fear and lust and I wanted to scream for more, but I didn’t know what else he could possibly give me."

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"I was that bullet. Armise was that knife.
And we were unstoppable as long as we were bound to each other."

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"And for today, I would be using every second to restrain myself from pushing Merq off the side of the ship."

Pahahaha 😂. You signed up for this shit, Armise - volunteered for it!

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

"He kept the last of my soul from being lost."

#TheBordersWar #DominantPredator

Not loving the fact that the last line of the synopsis of Powerless is:
"But his reliance on his former enemy may be a miscalculation that will threaten everything Merq stands for."
@AuthorSAMcAuley, WHAT DID YOU DO?!?! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Here we go...

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Armise is what now?

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“I will not be ruled by him. Or by anyone. And I will not be used.”"

💪🏻

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“Fuck that. Fifteen minutes is more than enough time.”"

The amount of things I have in common with Armise continues to surprise me 😂.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

The end of that shower scene is too cute. As is the fact that they hold the doors for each other 😍.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I’d been working with him and living with him for long enough to trust he had my back because his only agenda was me."

No matter what happens, it's this that I have no doubt about. Armise has always put Merq first.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I stepped toward him, trying to bridge the distance that had inexplicably grown between us within seconds. “You can’t leave. There is no one else I can trust besides you. No one.”"

😭💔

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“Who am I to you?”"

Well, if that ain't the million dollar question.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“Someday you will understand that I am always with you.”"

🥰

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"Armise caught my eyes for only a split second then he closed his fist around the chip and activated it."

😐. I know Armise thinks he's doing this for the right Merq-based reason but he is being such an idiot right now 🤦🏻‍♀️.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I woke up screaming for Armise."

Oh, honey 💔.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Sims is a babe 👌🏻.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I was a spectator in the war I had started."

I have so many feelings surrounding this sentence. It's just such a layered statement.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I hadn’t realized how much I’d pinned my own existence to his until he wasn’t with me anymore."

😍😭

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Hey, @AuthorSAMcAuley, do we ever find out where "Mig" came from? If we don't, spill it! I wonder about it every time Sims says it 🙈.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"For years I’d maintained the ability to walk away from everything without thought. Until Armise."

😭💘

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I was losing the capability to deal with the feelings of anger and betrayal that crawled through me. But I wasn’t lost enough that I didn’t know that rage was merely a cover for the desire that made my fingertips itch with the need."

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Oh, Jesus Christ, Neveed. It ain't ever gonna happen, sweetie.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“I don’t like it when you lie to me, Merq.”"

Erm, that's a bit rich, Kersch?

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"They weren’t human. But, for once, I was."

Yay, Merq! 😃

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I couldn’t tamp down the instinct that I didn’t have the whole story."

Of this, I have no doubt. I refuse to lose faith in Armise. There's a reason for everything he does and that reason's usually Merq so 💁🏻‍♀️.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“Merq Grayson. MG. So, Mig.”"

Ohhhhhh! Okay then. That makes sense 💁🏻‍♀️.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Okay, is it bad that I don't trust Kersch? There's just something off about him... 🤔

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"Armise, silent, dropped his eyes to the floor."

Well... shit. That happened.
I don't like Armise being so defeatist though 🙈.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"Simion didn’t give me a choice this time.
He fired."

Feelings, @AuthorSAMcAuley!! 😐.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“Who am I to you?”"

Well, if that question didn't make a phenomenal return.
Armise's answer though! 🥰.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I was stronger now because I cared."

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

So, Armise enjoys the use of the word "fuck" then? 😂

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“For you, Merq. Goddammit. You.”"

Oh, feelings. I knew he had his Merq-based reasons.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Did not see that coming! I knew there was something sketchy with Kersch but that wasn't exactly what I expected.
This makes so many things have so many questions. I'm gonna need to reread #OneBreathOneBullet and #DominantPredator knowing this.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Wait... Sims is president?!
I had a feeling when I wasn't allowed near the dais but I didn't expect to be right!
Yay for Sims! 🥳

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“Everything feels the same, and yet not.”"

This. This is just... life.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Aha, Merq, Sims and Naveed are like brothers, I love it.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“You’re a good man, Neveed. And it’s been an honor to serve with you.”"

Oh, I'm so proud of Merq and Neveed 😊.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I’d inflicted wounds on Armise more times than I could count ... But this time he hadn’t had the option to fight back. I’d railed at him, demanding answers, and he’d given them all to me without hesitation. I’d torn at him and he’d told me he loved me." #TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“I don’t know where to start.”"

Why is it that the hardest conversations always start out this way?

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I crossed the room and sank onto the edge of the bed. I set my elbows on my knees and told him the most honest thing I’d possibly ever said to him. “I’d never keep you out.”
Armise’s eyes widened."

I'm... well, Armise and I had the same reaction.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

“What do you need?”"

Oh, there's that question again 🥰.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“I still hurt even with you standing right in front of me, because I have no idea where we go from here.”"

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I was stripped bare with his words. Bone and flesh. Nerves and desire that only came alive for him."

🥰

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I hurt. And I didn’t want to hurt anymore."

Oh, Merq 💔.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"I didn’t fucking care how I looked in the moment. He wanted to hear the truth from me, then he would get it. No matter how fucking humiliating this confession was for me."

This. There is nothing more important than this.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"“Just let go, Armise. Let me feel you. The real you.”"

🥰

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

I have so, so, so many feelings about Chapter 14 🥰.
So glad they finally managed to have an honest, open conversation!

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"Simion pointed at Armise. “You fucking stop that shit too. I’ll make it an order if I have to.”
“Yes, sir,” Armise and I answered in tandem, this time with a definite air of ridicule."

😂😂😂

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"It was a new start with Armise."

In more ways than one 🙊.

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

Erm, Dr. Blanc? Say what now?! 😯
Is he who I think he is? And if he is, why hasn't Armise mentioned it?! 🤔

#TheBordersWar #Powerless

"He was temperance and calm in a world of madness. He was safety when risk ruled us all."

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"Wherever my atoms and cells ended up, I didn’t want to come out on the other side without Armise."

N'aww, Merq's big a softy really 🥰.

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"“Can you live without fear when you have something to lose?”"

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"There were many other things I should have been noticing as we walked, but he was all I saw."

N'aww! 🥰

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

Wait... Armise and Jegs did what now?

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"It was as if his hands had dug inside me and forced me to expose everything. He made me vulnerable. It was terrifying.
And yet freeing."

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"I grabbed a knife off the table and flipped it into position for a downward body strike. Some days the urge to stab him was overwhelming."

These two and their constant refrain from murdering each other... 😂

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

Erm... Chen 😐.

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"Each thump of my heart, each crunch of my boot, each thought, memory and emotion that passed through my head was a reminder of what Chen would no longer be alive to experience."

😭💔

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"“Elina didn’t take that well.”"

I like the twins 😂.

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"“Tiam told us the truth of what he heard. That doesn’t mean Ahriman told the truth to Tiam.”"

This. Always remember this.

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"Armise was always next to me, even when it was I who caused him pain."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is love.

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"I wanted him to kiss me. It had been too long. But I didn’t know how to ask."

Oh, sweetie 🥰.

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"I reached for the button to switch off the aircomm and Simion flipped me off with both hands."

Pahaha, I love Sims. How is he allowed to be president? 😂.

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"“I think I became so good at lying that I’ve been fooling myself.”"

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"“Love is a nice idea in a time and place where nice doesn’t exist. But when you say it I think maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’ve been ignorant and unaware all along.”"

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"“Love is more than trust and loyalty, Merq. It is hurt. If you don’t have a vested stake then it doesn’t hurt.”"

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"Knowledge was more dangerous than ignorance when it came to my feelings about Armise."

Ain't that the truth?

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"“You’re the only reason I have to move forward.”"

🥰

#TheBordersWar #FallingOneByOne

"I was done. I’d given enough of myself to a movement that had never given me anything back, when I had a man at my side who’d willingly given me everything."

Heartbreaking circumstances but yay for Merq finally putting Armise first 🥳.

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“I would regret your death.”"

😭💔

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"I wanted him. Needed him.
I didn’t know how to disengage myself from him.
I loved him."

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"I would do anything I had to, to give him a fighting chance, and I had no qualms about putting my own safety on the line to retrieve something that could make a difference in his recovery."

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

They both really need to stop expecting the other one to leave 😥.

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love Sims, he's a babe.

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“So you didn’t die,” ... “Going to have to try harder to put you down the next time.”
...
“I would choke you if I could.”"

For fuck's sake 😂.

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“When you’re ready I’ll be waiting.”"

I feel like Merq is finally all grown up.

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“Food heals all.”"

Preach! 🙌🏻

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“You gotta learn to see your own value.”"

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"I hesitated because the enormity of who he was to me had little to do with his size or his strength."

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“I will be with you until the point I cannot follow.”"

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"I knew exactly who he was to me.
“You, Armise, are the only part of my life that matters.”"

🥰

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

Merq is what now? Did not see that coming.

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"We were so alike, and yet so different. Knowing that, he’d chosen to stay with me, to fight with me and for me.
That was the only thing that mattered."

🥰

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"I’d never known it was possible for him to break at all.
Until he did."

Oh, feelings 😭💔.

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“I’m allowed to ask things of you that I wouldn’t of anyone else.”"

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

The goodbye with Sims! 😭

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“I remember every moment I’ve ever spent with you— the good and the bad.”"

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

Oh my God. He finally, actually said it! 😭🥰

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“I could never forget you.”"

😍

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"He was dead, and yet I was the one who was fragile."

😭💔

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"“We’ll deal with it,” I reassured him.
He nodded. “Together.”"

😍🥰

#TheBordersWar #StrengthOfTheRisingSun

"We’d survived, but only because we’d worked together.
...
I didn’t want to live a life without him.
I lived with fear because I had him to lose."

#TheBordersWar #Sanctuary

"I’d always been the one to ignore the passage of time, but time mattered. Each day, each second, held an immeasurable value I couldn’t deny anymore."

#TheBordersWar #Sanctuary

"Darkness didn’t always mean the loss of hope."

#TheBordersWar #Sanctuary

"“And your eyes….” Merq chuffed. “They are just as soul- stripping as I remember.”
...
“I don’t need to see your eyes to feel them on me, Armise. I never have.”"

Oh 🥰

#TheBordersWar #Sanctuary

"This physical place was our home.
Our safety and peace hard- earned.
And Merq and me….
The love we had for each other was our sanctuary."

😭😍🥰

#TheBordersWar #Sanctuary

Well, I can honestly say that #TheBordersWar is easily one of the best things I have ever, ever read.

Thank you, @AuthorSAMcAuley, for pulling me into a world that will stay with me for the rest of my days 💘.

Now I just have to work out what to do with myself without Merq and Armise keeping me company every day...
Hellooooo book hangover.

#TheBordersWar

I will forever associate this word with #TheBordersWar and @AuthorSAMcAuley.