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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Whitney Dean
Read between
September 1 - September 2, 2022
Everything looked grayer during winter. Darker. It soothed me.
Seolia was surrounded by three kingdoms: Reales, Thoya, and Perosan. Our island was situated in the middle of the three kingdoms. The three kingdoms depended on Seolia for passage through the channel to the other kingdoms and villages to trade crops and grains. At the same time, Seolia relied heavily on the domains for steel, fabrics, and furnishings. Each kingdom played a vital role in the survival of the others, and it had been nearly a century since the last war when Reales had tried to take control of Perosan and fought against Seolia and Thoya for it.
If I believed in love at first sight, this would have been it.
And then, her eyes met mine. Flashes flit through my eyes, skating into the depths of my mind. I could see them like they were right in front of me. Me, in lives I’d never lived, with her—laughing, crying, kissing. Together. I knew her. I had never met her, but I knew her.
Until this moment, this second, I hadn’t realized that I had been looking for her my entire life.
“I possess earth, fire, and ice. The very wind that gives you chills on a blustery day is the same one that runs through my veins. I am the elements.”
“Straighten your crown, dear girl. Face those who don’t believe in you with pride in who you are.
“Soul mates and twin flames are rare; they’re destined to be together.”
“So you’ve been thinking about me,” she said. That was a severe understatement. I’d done nothing but think of her.
“You’re my heaven.” He found my collarbone. “You’re my hell. And I want to burn in you.”
Some villains were born, but I would be self-made. I would become a beast of the underworld to protect her. Half-man, half-monster if it meant she was safe.
He wanted to drink my darkness. I wanted to drown in his.
“You always love me best in the dark,” I whispered.
“How I wish I could be a star,”
He’d chosen his queen. It wasn’t me. And every piece of my heart shattered.
“My butterfly,” she whispered. I laughed softly. The crowd around us grew silent as they watched our interaction unfold. “My queen is my friend!” Eva squealed in excitement. I nodded to her, a single tear escaping and falling down my cheek, pooling against her tiny hand. “Always.”
She was my star.
“Your eyes are different.” She stepped closer and raised her chin. “Darker with…. Spiraling black spools.”
“You’ll always be my butterfly,” she whispered, sliding her arms around my neck.
“My heart beats because of yours.”
“I would’ve burned the very soil of this world for you,” I whispered, unsure if he could hear me. But then he spoke, and his voice carried a sense of finality, “I will find you in the next one.”
“Maybe I was a star in another life,” I said, yawning. “Guiding sailors, granting wishes to those who had nothing left to hope for.” My eyes started to flutter closed. “Burning, burning,” I whispered, “until I had nothing left to give.” Before I closed my eyes, another star shot past. “Wish for something, baby.” I started to drift, but before I fell into a deep sleep, I could’ve sworn I heard him say, “You.”
“You always love me best in the dark,” I whispered. “Because you are my light.”
“Death. I feel like I command death. It’s so cold, Zeke.”
No one could save me from the depths of my mania now. I would numb my pain, my heart. I would become the dark queen.
