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FOR YOU, DEAREST READER
These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume. —Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
As the West throws its arms up in unending party, as the rest of the Middle Kingdom remains splintered among aging warlords and the remnants of imperial rule, Shanghai sits in its own little bubble of power: the Paris of the East, the New York of the West.
“I am. I am perpetually filled with woe.”
Straight-faced, Juliette replied, “You know me. Running around. Living life. Committing arson.”
After four years away, Juliette’s memories of the people she had left behind no longer aligned with who they had become. Nothing of her memory had withstood the test of time.
In the next second, the club had fallen silent completely. Nothing was audible save the labored breathing of the short and stout man who had collapsed on the floor, his throat torn into pieces and his hands dripping with blood.
Ummm. What?!?!
Juliette had met plenty of men like him in America: men who assumed they had the right to go wherever they wished because the world had been built to favor their civilized etiquette. That sort of confidence knew no bounds.
they would never simper after her in such a manner. She was a girl. In their eyes, no matter how legitimate, she would never be good enough.
“May I make a request, Miss Cai?” “I already told you—” Paul smiled. “Can I see you again?” Juliette slammed the door shut. “Absolutely not.”
GIRL, BYE
Roma was not afraid. He only feared the power of others. Monsters and things that walked the night were strong, but they were not powerful. There was a difference.
“Ready,” she called to the driver. “Go forth.”
prodigal son.
"Now I'm runnin' hooooome like the prodigalllll" - Josiah Queeeeeen <3
Instead, what she finds are insects. Thousands of them—tiny, disgusting things crawling on the ground. They bump over one another and skitter about in random fashion, but en masse, they are all moving in one direction: toward the water.
Juliette had perfected the art of dishonest guiles; she hid her identity when necessary, then wielded it like a weapon when the time came.
“Don’t look so smug,” he whispered while Juliette passed him. “That’s just my face,” she hissed back.
It was all irrational anyway, a belief that if he achieved one impossible thing, then perhaps every other impossible element in his life would click together too, regardless of whether they truly correlated.
What was a sphere? It was a three-dimensional circle, and circles didn’t exist. A circle had points that were all equidistant from the center,
And I'm in math class right now. I did NOT need more shapes
Those who do not care, those who are violent, those who delight in that which is terrible”—Marshall shrugged, waving his hands about as he chose the right words—“they thrive.
On the next street over, as Benedikt and Marshall hurried south, Kathleen was moving north, dropping in and out of the banks along the Bund.
I love all the POVs!!
“These days, Juliette,” he said, low and warily, “the most dangerous people are the powerful white men who feel as if they have been slighted.”
They believed themselves the rulers of the world—on stolen land in America, on stolen land in Shanghai.
turned around, facing the human equivalent of stale bread.
The men, meanwhile, could be as tan, as fat, and as old as they wished. It would have no bearing on what people thought of them.
Memories were beastly little creatures, after all—they rose with the faintest whiff of nourishment.
Only so the white men keep their hands off this damn country.”
“She’s too kindhearted for her own good,” Rosalind remarked. “Let her be,” Juliette replied. “Too many kind hearts turn cold every day.”
The older generation was not as fluent as their children.
Skibidi alpha rizz
They didn’t expect the noise to be coming from Alisa Montagova, who wheezed one last time before dropping to her knees, her fingers launching at her own throat.
Noooo I literally loved her!!
Was it loyalty that created power? Or was loyalty only a symptom, offered when the circumstances were favorable and taken away when the tides turned?
“For Alisa,” Juliette managed roughly, finally turning her gaze back, “and for all the little girls in this city falling victim to a game they never asked to play,
And this is Mr. Montague.
Haha smooooth
Was the line between enemy and friend horizontal or vertical? Was it a great plain to lumber across or was it a high, high wall—either to be scaled or kicked down in one big blow?
And if she understood society, then she would be well equipped to survive it, to manipulate the playing field around her until she could have a chance of living her life in peace.
“Birds,” he muttered. “Miniature little devils.”
Tyler was usually one of the loudest people at these tables.
Omgosh wait Tyler is Tybalt!! :O
One glance at the decadent greens of the vegetables, at the gleam of the scaled fish, at the glistening oils dripping off the meat was enough to water the mouths of anyone.
Chloe's descriptions are waayyyy to detailed I'm literally drooling over here
Benedikt was the opposite. People made him sticky. People made him think about his words twice as hard and sweat when he didn’t pick them right.
his immediate reaction upon scribing “Dear Juliette” was to make a comparison of her hair to a raven.
Um ewww
The more boring, the better off you are.”
And the same for lifeguarding!
Benedikt stood. He made a mock bow, his mouth twisted sourly. “Yes, Cousin,” he said.
Omg wait he's Benvoilo!
Kathleen frowned. “Ça va?” “Ça va.” Rosalind sighed. “Lord Cai scared me tonight.”
To translate
