Crown of Earth and Sky (Secrets of the Faerie Crown, #1)

by Emberly Ash

The one person I’d ever allowed myself to love was dead. I would never again allow myself to make that mistake.

This was why I refused to let emotion in. If I cared about my court, if I cared about anyone or anything, I would never survive. The pain of it would choke me until I was as dead as Arthur.

Only children bothered to hope for the impossible.

“That is your mistake, Arran. You assume that your soul is the only one that is ruined. But listen when I tell you… this thing within me, if it is a soul, is blacker than the starless night above the Split Sea. And no one can save me—not even you. Because I do not wish to be saved.”

But I was so damned tired. When all the rage was stripped away, I was just… tired.

The darkness tried to consume me. But this time, I looked up and saw the stars.

“Your Majesty,” Cyara breathed. “This is inappropriate. Your courtiers—” “—will bend to my will or find themselves broken,” she said with finality.

power was not the same as strength.