Foul Heart Huntsman (Foul Lady Fortune, #2)

by Chloe Gong

But people were more complicated than how political allegiances looked on paper; people protected one another in ways that made no sense and held on to larger beliefs even while committing smaller infractions along the way.

The empire across the sea is small. And when this is an age of expansion, they will claim that invasion must be performed in self-defense, that it is a necessity while their people grow hungrier, a population with mouths to feed and feet to plant. Isn’t that how it always goes? Their people are real people. Our people are not real people. Give it a decade, and maybe the sides switch. Give it a century, and maybe the power moves. But here, now—the worst of it begins.

People can be capable of terrible things and hold love in their hearts at the same time. That’s the complexity of mankind.”

“You are nobody.” “Excuse me?” A wave of irrational anger overrode the pain of her landing. “I am your wife.”

What is love if you are not cared for in return? It doesn’t matter how thoroughly you choose it.”

“Sometimes,” she sighed softly, “I feel as though you forget that you don’t have to take pain just because you can.”

His hand, almost absently, traced a flower stitched at the waistline of her qipao. He had the temptation to pluck her up as if she were a bloom too, to hear a proper laugh and store it away in a place no one could ever take from him again. He wouldn’t dare, of course—she would probably bite him if he tried. Which was tempting in and of itself too.

War isn’t a place for heroes, Rosalind. War is a place for survival until those above us have tired us out.”

“Maybe I am afraid,” she whispered. “How do I live with myself if there ever comes a day you get hurt because of me?”

“You accept it,” he replied simply. “Because that’s what it means to be alive. That’s what it means to fight for something—to love something. The country is good enough for us to die for. Why wouldn’t you be?”

“I’m only trying to—” “Love confessions and marriage proposals are forbidden,” Rosalind snapped, and her tone could have been a death knell itself. She stomped on the accelerator. The car hurtled forward at once, away from the military trucks driving in the other direction. “Are you trying to die?”

It was only that she knew him too well. And if she knew him this well, then she also knew that he was strong enough to hold on. “I will find you help.” She swerved fast. “Tell your heart to stop pumping so fast.” “I can’t,” he replied weakly. “It swoons when you’re around.”

“This new onslaught may last awhile,” Silas replied. A thought seemed to occur to him. He glanced over his shoulder as if to check whether there were any Nationalists observing them. “Feiyi… I suppose Zhabei could still use your help.” Phoebe choked on a single laugh. When she wiped her eyes, her tears cleared, allowing the night to come into blistering clarity. “You need to get me more bullets.” “Done.” He kissed her temple, and the sensation overrode everything else that tried to cling to her with heaviness. “I’ll get you the world if you need it.”