Shadows So Cruel (Court of Ravens, #2)

by Liv Zander

“You are not the damsel in distress you make yourself out to be,” Malyr’s voice resonated, as if whispered right beside me, his belief in me like a caress to my soul. It always had been.

Do not shy away from his darkness, a woman’s voice sounded from somewhere in my head. Embrace it.

He would feel my hatred later. Right now, love took precedence.

I was powerful, invulnerable.

“Only the deepest love is capable of bringing about the deepest pain.”

“Shame and hate are heavy burdens, Malyr. I won’t let them drag me down,” her voice resonated my thoughts. “And neither should you.”

“Only the deepest love was capable of bringing about the deepest pain.” Love and pain. Truth and lies. Light and dark. Fate and choice. None of them were adversaries; none of them could exist without the other. Together, they were life.

There was nothing wrong with me. There was nothing wrong with her. Or maybe, there was something wrong with both of us, but who cared? Even if we were both broken, then put together, her cracks matched up perfectly with mine.

“For ten years, I thought that this would bring me joy. It doesn’t. There is only hate to be had here, and that has started to bore me, too.”