Tumblr made me do it.
Jared Sage
Does it count as a change, Sydney wonders, if this was all she ever knew? Maybe once upon a time, when Carly had been the heir presumptive, she might have spent her afternoons playing, mouth sticky with sweets and nascent dreams. But it had not lasted. All she's left with now is a strange, bone-deep ache for something she did not, perhaps, ever have in the first place. She crushes her dreams to escape the ache, and pays attention to her father's instructions.
His beliefs, the beliefs of her people, become hers.
Rose Hathaway
Rose is a flash of colour in the black and white, bold and bright and beautiful, so determined. You could never call her evil.
It is as simple, as earth-shatteringly confusing, as that.
Jacelyn Terwilliger
Sydney was born to look after others, in every way imaginable. An Alchemist takes care of their race; a sister watches over her siblings, whether they're older or younger; Sydney might not trust the vampires, or not yet, but she will do everything to keep them safe. She is not allowed to want, when her mission hangs so scorching bright over her head. Picking up the pieces comes as easy as breathing, but realising that someone else is quite willing to do the same for her—that does not.
But Mrs. Terwilliger never gives her the space to deny herself. It is difficult holding back her thirst for knowledge when it's dangled in front of her eyes. It is even more difficult given practical reasons, one after another, why she should not hide in the first place. Hot on temptation's heels comes a realisation: Maybe she is worth the effort. Maybe she is allowed to put herself first.
Adrian Ivashkov
She has never, Sydney think soon after meeting Adrian, met a less threatening vampire in her life, in any possible way. He is not a fighter. He is not a schemer. He might be pretty, but he doesn't have that blaze of life that followed Rose, or the sweet softness of Jill that makes her someone Sydney wants to protect.
She, of course, is wrong.
Sydney has few close friends; he becomes her friend. Sydney does not give into emotion; he makes her a mess of emotion. Sydney is an Alchemist first and foremost; he is just abstract enough, just direct enough, that he sees her.
You inspire me, Adrian had said, and it goes both ways. Adrian follows Rose's path and opens her eyes. She does not want to exist in a world of black and white. Rose, Jill, Adrian, they had showed such a world to be a lie. He makes her want to be more than she is, more than the countless rules that govern her existence - to be everything she has ever, maybe, dreamed of.
It is the most beautiful, most terrifying thing she has ever experienced in her life.
Sydney Sage
She listens. She changes. She chooses.
It is as simple as that.