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The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. They are fickle, unsteady as moonlight on water, or shadows in a storm. If you insist on calling them, take heed: be careful what you ask for, be willing to pay the price. And no matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.
“The old gods may be great, but they are neither kind nor merciful. They are fickle, unsteady as moonlight on water, or shadows in a storm. If you insist on calling them, take heed: be careful what you ask for, be willing to pay the price.”
“And no matter how desperate or dire, never pray to the gods that answer after dark.”
Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives—or to find strength in a very long one.
Perhaps she is lonelier than she would say. Perhaps an enemy’s company is still better than none.
Why, a world without reading, I cannot fathom it. A whole long life without poems, or plays, or philosophers. Shakespeare, Socrates, to say nothing of Descartes!”
Aut viam invenium aut faciam,
To find a way, or make your own.
“Small places make for small lives. And some people are fine with that. They like knowing where to put their feet. But if you only walk in other people’s steps, you cannot make your own way. You cannot leave a mark.”
And even though he’s safe, both feet firmly on the ground, Henry feels himself begin to fall.
Addie cannot help herself. She shakes her head, bemused. “Some nights, you love to see me suffer, so that I will yield. Others, you seem intent to spare me from it. I do wish you’d make up your mind.” A shadow sweeps across his face. “Trust me, my dear, you don’t.” A small shiver runs through her as he lifts the wineglass to his lips. “Do not mistake this—any of it—for kindness, Adeline.” His eyes go bright with mischief. “I simply want to be the one who breaks you.”
“But when you live long enough, even madness ends.”
“Nothing is all good or all bad,” she says. “Life is so much messier than that.”
That time always ends a second before you’re ready. That life is the minutes you want minus one.
