City of Mirth and Malice (Order and Chaos, #2)

by Alexis L. Menard

For my daughter, who taught me the true form of chaos. Don’t let anyone steal your fire.

I had flipped sides. From being limited to knowing no limits. Being powerless to having too much. What I’d give to be less than everyone again. What I’d trade to be not enough.

“Don’t tempt me to find some, Nicolai. I’m not in the right mind to be merciful.” “She’s stunning when she’s homicidal, isn’t she, cousins?”

He was danger and darkness and deliverance, and he was every desire of my soul embodied.

“Your laugh is a song of victory, proving you faced their worst and not only survived, but came out with joy still in your heart. And that fucking smile, not to mention your eyes—the light still shining in your eyes—they are beacons to me, guiding me to my true home as they have since the first time I caught a glimpse of them.”

“Maybe you can show me what you learned in those books of yours.” My laugh barked an echo through the house as we descended to the main level. “You’re just jealous you had to read about trains while I was learning how to fuck—”

“It sounds like you’re planning to keep me forever, Attano.” His hands slipped from my waist, drifting lower. “I’ve got lots of plans for you. They all end in forever.”

inching back to look at me. An adoration there I’d never seen anyone else offer me before. “Worth it all.” “What?” I asked. “You. You were worth everything.”

I wondered if this was what forever felt like.

“Speak kinder about yourself.” She continued to lecture me above the sounds of my coughing. “The things we whisper to the shadows have a tendency to come true.”

“I’ll tell you every day, until our last sunrise. And even then, when we cross the veil, I’ll whisper it through the void until my voice fills Oblivion. I love you, Camilla.”