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disobligingly
“Her personality is not gray,” Saf said. “Indeed,” Teddy said. “She’s all sparks.” “How about Sparks, then?” “Perfect. So, you’re curious about my book of words, Sparks?”
flummoxed,
This made Saf laugh, quietly, which was a thing Bitterblue had never seen him do before. She was rather proud of herself.
‘I suppose the little queen is safe without you today, for her first men can do what you would. Once you learn cutting and stitching, do you ever forget it, whatever comes between? Even if Leck comes between? I worry for her. It’s my dream that the queen be a truthseeker, but not if it makes her someone’s prey.’”
remuneration.”
Do something heroic in front of an audience. Knock a child into the river while no one’s looking and then rescue him.
soporific,
He had an instinct toward recklessness tonight, and it was rooted in his anger.
And that was why she went with him—not so that he would have someone to look after, but so that someone, no matter how small and reluctant, would be there to look after him.
His voice had gone gentle somehow. Teasing. They stood close, heads bent together over the watch, her fingers still holding his hand. She understood something suddenly, not with her mind, but in the air that touched her throat and made her shiver when she looked up into his bruised face. “Ah,” she said. “Good night, Saf,” then she slipped
Raffin and Bann stood together, propped against the wall and against each other, half dozing. At one point, Raffin, not knowing he had one small, curious witness, gave Bann a sleepy kiss on the ear.
Bitterblue had wondered that about them. It was nice when something in the world became clear. Especially when it was a nice thing.
“Because when truths disappear, they leave behind blank spaces, and that is also dangerous.”
These words seem to suggest that a healer some forty years ago is still a healer today, rendering you safe in the company of your ‘first men,’ your advisers, Lady Queen, even when your official healers are unavailable.” “How do you know this about my advisers?”
It’s your delicacy, you know. It makes a fellow want to bare his soul.”
Instead, still studying his own hand, he said quietly, “I will never tell his secret.”
It was not like the other kisses, not at all. “Sparks,” he whispered into the place beneath her ear, nuzzling her, pulling her hood back, which made her crane her face up and kiss him more. He seemed amenable to more kissing. When it occurred to her that eventually he might stop kissing her, her hands reached to take hold of his shirt and anchor him there, and she bit him.
“I don’t think you understand the nature of this holiday, Sapphire.” “I don’t think you understand the nature of our relationship, Ander,” Saf said with sudden ferocity, then smashed his fist into the other man’s face
“I’ll stay in here while you talk to Sapphire. If he touches you, I’ll come in and choke him to death.”
derision.
marooned
“But that’s how memory works,” Bitterblue said quietly. “Things disappear without your permission, then come back again without your permission.” And sometimes they came back incomplete and warped.
avaricious
“Lady Queen,” he said, “you’ve given me all I want. You’re the queen a librarian dreams of.”
“How do you know she doesn’t disappear somewhere where she can see my windows?” “I don’t,” Saf said, shrugging. “I’ll factor it into whatever happens next.” “And what do you expect to happen next?” “I was hoping you’d ask me to push her off the platform, Lady Queen,” he said.
“I want to have the heart and mind of a queen,” she whispered. “I want it more than anything. But I’m only pretending. I can’t find the feeling of it inside me.”
Queen Bitterblue, Fire said, shall I share with you the feeling of your own strength?
