House of Ash and Shadow (Gilded City, #1)

by Leia Stone

“You said I couldn’t control how people treated me, but I could control my reaction to their mistreatment. That it would define who I was.”

“Well, the moral of the story is to be kind to others but defend yourself if you must.”

I knew in that moment that no matter what Ariyon did to me, no matter how cruel my four years here were with him at The Academy, I would never be able to hate a single hair on his head. I owed him everything.

“We can’t help what we are born into, Fallon. Only the choices we make each day.”

I turned to face him, and he reached out and wiped the tear from my cheek with his bare hand, causing me to shake my head. “Do you have any idea how casual you are with touching me?” I chuckled. “My father is scared to get within a foot of me and you just…” His eyes burned from grey to blue in that moment. “Oh, it’s very intentional, I assure you, Fallon.”

“And what if I go dark?” I whimpered. His face sobered. “Then I will jump into the shadows and pull you back to the Light.” And with that, sleep took me.

“I’m saying that from the moment I met you I’ve felt some spark of myself come alive that I long thought was dead. I’m saying that I can’t get the way you smell out of my head, and I dream about tasting you. I’m saying, Fallon Brookshire, that I don’t care who your mother is, I just want to be the person that makes you happy. It’s always been you.”