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“You know how every realm has two kinds of magic? Light and shadow in Lumnos, stone and ice in Montios, sea and air in Meros, and so on.”
“Something tells me the only girl in Emarion with bright white hair and grey eyes might have a few problems sneaking around unrecognized.”
The belief that I was doing things I shouldn’t be able to do... Magic.
“She’s a hell of a woman, that Auralie,” he said. “I can see where you get it from.”
I feel like she’s not dead
It was an exquisite weapon, the kind I’d normally have to save for years to afford.
That sensation of power—no, of being powerful—was intoxicating in a way that left me as intrigued as I was unsettled.
The Everflame—the same tattoo I’d seen on Henri’s shoulder.
Guardians of the Everflame.”
Maybe I could channel the temper smoldering inside me and direct it somewhere it could help someone, instead of slowly burning me to ash.
“I hope so,” he said, his eyes softening with some inscrutable emotion. “She is a force to be reckoned with—just like you.”
I feel like it’s her mom
Shame weighed on my heart. I knew what he was about to say. What he was about to ask. And, like a coward, I was running from it.
godstone, a rare material that could only be made by the Kindred.
Though harmless to mortals, its effects were ferociously destructive to Descended, a gruesome and painful death with no known antidote.
A gryvern.
Kings of the sea, sky, and land—all transformed into a single beast.
engraved with the interlocking sun and moon that served as the sigil of Lumnos.
“Bullshit,” I seethed. “Don’t parents around here teach their sons not to put their hands on a woman without her consent?”
Magic detonated into the room.
He was convincing—I had to give him that.
His eyes were on me, his expression softer than usual.
I weighed the pros and cons of strangling a member of the royal family in their own palace.
“I think,” he said, tugging it from my grasp, “it’s safe to say, Miss Bellator, you’ve already won me over.”
His thumb brushed against my hip, and my skin flushed with heat. Gods, I hated him.
I stepped back and felt a tug at my hip—his hand still lingered there, still holding on to the hilt of my blade. He slowly pulled it away.
His hand closed around mine, and all my angry words tangled in a giant knot.
The warm grip of his hand was infuriatingly distracting. I started to speak again, and his eyes dropped to my lips. My mouth went dry. Gods, I really, really hated him.
Almost as if he, too, had been holding his breath.
“I’d say that went very well, wouldn’t you?” “Not a word, Maura,” I grumbled. “Not. A. Word.”
“Careful, Diem.” His severe tone matched his features. “You speak of treason.”
He slammed his pencil down, his voice rising. “And she’s Descended and I’m mortal. You know the rules. No marriage, no children.”
I was not made to sit and do nothing. I was made to fight.
Like I said, Paradise Row women were nothing if not loyal.
Her lashes fluttered as she fought back a fresh round of tears. “How much do I owe you?” “This one’s on the house.” Relief fluttered over her face, but she quickly hid it behind a defensive pout. “I can pay,” she insisted.
“You can be a healer when you’re old. You only get a few years to be young and pretty. Seize your opportunities while you got ‘em.”
Don’t choose a mediocre life for a mediocre man. Go be exceptional. If he’s worth it, he won’t judge you. And if he’s really the one, he’ll come along for the ride.”
The vicious blue eyes of a Descended.
The people of Mortal City—my people—had never been allowed to be lucky.
The day of my mother’s disappearance, this woman had helped me, distracting the men chasing me so I could escape. She might very well have saved my life that day—and now her fate was in my hands.
Doriel
It was elegantly beautiful—and utterly soulless. How very fitting, I thought dryly.
“were they small and yellow, with big waxy green leaves?”
deathshade.”
She said the light wants to please its wielder, but the shadows only want to fight.”
My suspicion turned to fury.
This was respect—the kind that could only be earned through trials and proof.
“Welcome to the Guardians of the Everflame.”
“They may walk very different paths, but at the beginnings and the ends of their lives, they’re as mortal as we are. Perhaps their Kindred did that for a reason.”
A muscle ticked on Luther’s jaw.
“I wouldn’t want you to think I wasn’t taught to ask for a woman’s consent.”
A spark of challenge glittered in his eyes. You’re not the only one who remembers our previous chat, they seemed to say.
