Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

by Rebecca Yarros

“Who the fuck’s flight jacket are you wearing?”

Shit. What is this? Jealousy? Anxiety? Insecurity? “All three,” Tairn responds in utter annoyance. “To which I will remind you that not a single dragon chose her. You were selected by two. Pull yourself together.”

“You want to know something true? Something real? I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time. I’m grateful my life is tied to yours because it means I won’t have to face a day without you in it. My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I’ll meet Malek at your side. It’s a damned good thing that you love me, too, because you’re stuck with me in this life and every other that could possibly follow.”

“She makes a good point,” Andarna agrees. “Can you carry a luminary?” “That question insults me.” “Can you carry a luminary while insulted?” she prods.

“We do not eat our allies,”

“My house. My chair. My woman.”

“Your scales aren’t really black.” “No.” Even now, her scales are changing, taking on the grayish hue of the stone around us. “But he is, and I so badly want to be just like him.”