Kindle Notes & Highlights
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July 14 - July 27, 2024
‘But, after fighting in genuine battles with a rider on my back, it seems silly to feel anxious about a school year.’
he couldn’t imagine a world in which a peasant was right and a noblewoman was wrong.
I just…don’t want anybody to think of me like that. He acted like I killed her, out of incompetence or even malice, as if I lashed out because I didn’t like her. But I did like her. I looked up to her, and thought of her as a friend. And all along, she was betraying us. She was the first one to believe in me, and even now, I don’t know how much of that was a lie.’
‘But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll think of alternatives. Nothing about us has ever been conventional; maybe it was a mistake to think we could do things the normal way once we got here.’
Whether it was flying into the throes of battle without combat training, or daring to do something society had decided she was too small to do, Perrell didn’t let anything stop her—and yet she wasn’t rude or aggressive—just quietly determined. It encouraged Eva to do the same.
I deal with the exact opposite; since I’m an air-mage, the light that I see floods the sky. To me, magic looks like clouds, shifting and blowing through the air and glowing as if it’s sunset all the time. It flows through the air in currents on the wind, and connects us to everything that touches the sky.”
“I just want to know you’re taking care of yourself.”
I can tell how much you want to succeed; if you keep up the hard work, there won’t be a force on earth that could stop you.”
“My, Eva, you certainly…ahem, you look lovely,” he said, sounding oddly shy all of a sudden. “That’s a nice color on you. It, erm, brings out your eyes.”
Maybe there was no place in this world for someone like Eva. Maybe she’d never truly belong.
She’d been afraid that he’d sat there at his family table, with her by his side in an outdated dress with the wrong fork in her hand as she talked back to his father, and regretted having brought her there at all.
“It truly is funny, how we come from such different worlds, and yet have so much in common. I suppose it was inevitable that I would end up enjoying your company so much.”
If you refuse to give anyone a chance until after they’ve proven themselves to you, then you’d have very few allies in the end.
“Though, for the record, if you were to view a certain one of my brothers as more than a mere friend, I wouldn’t object.”
I’d thought that I could rely on my roots to guide me, to ground me and give me something to stand on in this world. I’d thought it would help me figure out where I belong. Now that I know the truth, I feel more lost than ever.”
‘It’s going to be fine,’ Perrell encouraged. ‘And even if it wasn’t, I’m right here.’
