More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
April 27 - June 17, 2024
He sat beside her, still stunned and at a loss for words, his pulse racing laps from his head to his feet and back. “It’s
need the grass, Owein pressed. He needed to relieve himself. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Merritt replied, Now? Owein answered with a whine. “I will personally give you a tour of the hall”—Lady Helen gestured to the house—“and show you to your rooms. Are you hungry? I can have a tray brought—” “I am terribly sorry to interrupt.” Hopefully being American would let Merritt get away with that. Lowering his voice, he continued, “But my dear uncle is in need of a lavatory.” “Ah! Yes, right this . . .” Lady Helen paused. “That is . . . well, it’s not quite built for dogs.” “Any bush will do,”
...more
Everything was enormous, like the people who’d made this house had forgotten how to build things small.
Her shoes clacked loudly on the floor, or perhaps that was just the sound of a slow-breaking heart.
Hulda had privately shared her sleuthing into who could possibly be breaking Cyprus Hall and why. Merritt had taken notes—stress aside, this would make for an excellent book. And it eased his anxiety, thinking it a work of fiction instead of his life. He really did hope no one was trying to kill him. Again.
“Such is the bane of an augurist, Miss Larkin. Would have, should have, could have. They will plague your life. Sometimes, the gift of future-seeing is not seeing.”
“Magic is a gift, however small. But
“Soothsaying is often tied to your own thoughts. When you read a pattern determined by another individual, it is that individual’s future you see more often than not. But, well . . .” He rubbed his chin. “Say you are entering a pie into a county fair. It’s heavy on your mind. It’s important to you to win the blue ribbon, so to speak. And so, when you peer into the tea leaves of a neighbor, you might see her experience at the fair, such as, oh, petting the head of a lamb. As opposed to a vision of the chimney in her home collapsing. The chimney is arguably the more life-affecting incident, but
...more
slow process, and the hebetude of it all makes me nervous.” “Pardon?” She met his eyes. It took her a beat to understand. “The languidness. The waiting. The longer we wait for answers—” “The more anxious you feel, of course,” he finished. “Perhaps you could move it farther west. Won’t have to worry about the law, then.” “For a time, perhaps.” She turned her hand around and clasped his fingers. “But sooner or later, secrets catch up with everyone.”
mean, I’m not always brave. A lot of times I have to pretend. But pretending is kind of like practice. And the more you practice, the easier it gets.
He scratched at the ground a moment, uneasy. Then, pretending as best he could, he followed his friends into the darkness.
It’s just a color, Owein went on as Merritt entered a side door of the building. A bustling kitchen hand nodded to him before hurrying down the connecting corridor. Darkness, I mean. It’s just a part of the world. Part of life. It makes sense to me now. And my darkness . . . that’s a piece of my story, like a chapter in one of your books. I’m not supposed to tear it out. It makes me stronger. It adds to what I’m facing now, and what I’ll face in the future. It’s part of me, just like my legs or my magic or my mind.
She has the clackiest shoes, he answered, and Merritt emitted a voiceless laugh. Her strides always sound the same. She doesn’t walk slowly to anything.
he and Hulda were perfectly shaped cogs in a slightly eccentric clock. His future was and always would be with her.
Dogs didn’t cry. Not really. Not unless pollen, a fly, or the like flew into their eyes. But deep inside, a little boy remembered having hands, and he passed out of the cave and wept for sight of day.
She and Professor Griffiths did have several similarities. Once upon a time, she would have been utterly rapturous at his interest. But she realized as she opened the door to the cool afternoon, Hulda had no desire to court herself. She didn’t want to be immutable, never changing or growing. She wanted to spend her life with a man who would challenge her, forcing her to stretch and evolve. Someone who made her think differently, who argued the other side, who made her laugh.
“As I bind your hands, so are your lives bound in a union of love, trust, and devotion. Like the stars, your love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth, a foundation from which to grow.”
“May this knot remain forever tied, and may your hands always hold one another. Hold tightly during the storms of life, and be gentle as they nurture one another. I summon the spirits of the four quarters of our world, that this binding may be blessed by the powers of all creation. So let it be, amen.”
She wished she’d taken the time to eat before coming here, just so her stomach would have something to throw
They both seemed at a loss for words. So they simply sat there in each other’s company, worrying in joined silence, waiting for any sort of word on their future.
His heart pulsed to bursting, almost like he’d felt when sharing his body with Owein.
“Hulda, I am a better man because of you. I am a found man. You have changed everything in my life for the better. I honestly don’t know how I lived before you. I want your face to be the first thing I see in the morning, and your voice to be the last I hear at night, forever and always. I will gladly haunt this house with you for eternity.”
It was probably the best day of Merritt’s life, but he was all about progress and intended to have even better ones to come. It
