More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
February 18 - February 24, 2024
The moon turned the roads silver, and gray leaves tumbled by in the wind. The soft patter of rain filled the café as it began pelting the windows.
The night frost in the human realm smelled different than the frost in the North. It was clear, empty, and carried only the memories of the branches it coated.
Cress found that he couldn’t blink. It was her face—Cress was sure that her face was gilded by the sun and beloved by the moon, molded together by the deities of the sky with soft, clay skin and an entire forest in her eyes.
He had never heard a laugh like that, one without traces of malice and the threat of power that turned plants to ash and poisoned the air and forced the heavens to growl. Why did it ring in his ears? Why did it sound like a rusted flute or a cracked harp or the crisp crunch of dry leaves or a broken, delicate wind embracing the heights of the trees? He hated this day. He hated her laugh.
Thirty minutes later, three assassins sat around the café sipping warm pumpkin spice lattes and flipping the pages of their novels quietly.
Kate craved cool snow, clear skies, and a storefront filled with happy people sipping piping hot drinks.
Their glamourous charm was only the icing on the cake though. It was the comfort of having them walking into this fundraiser beside her that was the biggest relief of all.
“I know why you’re afraid of the sky’s anger. I know why you changed your name. I know what you’ve lost, what you cherish, and each of your little habits. I know you enjoy the colour yellow, and that you scribble painfully adorable little notes in your books. I know that your favourite soap contains sweet, fragrant powders. Like I said, I know everything about you.” Cress stepped forward, and Kate’s back hit her bedpost.
“You’re too kind-hearted,” he stated. “It’s weak.” “You’re still a monster. It’s scary.” He glanced at her, but she couldn’t see his eyes past his sunglasses. A laugh escaped her as he seemed unable to come up with a response. Cress reached over and took her hand again. “I like your laugh. It’s harmless in both an irritating and infatuating way.”
Cress reached across and pried her fingers away. She realized he was grinning, and her heart performed a strange flip.
“Don’t mistake me for a hero like the fairy folk in one of your books, Katherine. I’m the devil in most people’s stories. The last, terrible monster they see.”
But even though things were beyond busy with the café and Lily’s police shifts, it was nice to spend the late nights together sipping steaming nighttime tea and looking out at the stars.
There on the beach, he cried for the old woman. He cried for the loss he knew Kate Kole would feel. He cried for the mother who was taken away from him. And he cried for the simple life he’d never been allowed to have.
“You might as well be a siren-song fairy luring men to their deaths,”
“I want to make you laugh, Human. Hearing your laugh is my highest obsession. And your smile, too. And for some faeborn-cursed reason, I’m fascinated by your lack of evil—” “Aaaaaand back into the closet you go,” Shayne said, yanking Cress back by his shoulder. “I guess it’s not worn off yet.” Cress growled but didn’t object. “I thought I was okay to see her, but I’m not,” he muttered to Shayne. He glared at Kate this time. “You did this.” He pointed to his own head.
“Hmm.” Cress’s mouth twisted to the side. He set his mug down, walked around the counter, and turned her seat to face him. “I want you to be mine. That’s how I want the story to end,” he said. “With us living a simple life, and you being happy.”
Stay. How he hated that word. A word that might have had the power to change the order of the stars in the sky. A word that could break hearts and crumple fairy empires if uttered in the wrong setting.
