A Queen This Fierce and Deadly (Kingdom of Lies, #4)

by Stacia Stark

“I want you to feel how much I love you. I’ll always be with you, Prisca. It’s you and me.”

“In every life, wildcat. No matter what happens, you hold on to that. It’s you and me in every life.”

“Listen to me, wildcat. Our story doesn’t end when this life does. You’ll be mine in the next life––and the life after that. If you hadn’t wielded time, I would have waited as long as it took to see you again.”

“What am I going to do with you?” I reached for him, guiding his mouth to mine. “Love me,” I murmured against his lips. “Just love me.”

“Bravery is a choice. However, you can’t wait until the moment you need to be brave to reach for that bravery. Because if you haven’t been purposefully tending to it, building it up, you may find that it is not there when you need it. You must stoke the fires of courage little by little, day by day, so they are burning bright long before you ever need them. And you fuel or douse those fires—fanning the flames or snuffing them out—with the words you say to yourself. And with the

words you allow others to say about you in your presence.”

I felt all of the shame and disgust and fury and helplessness.

The world didn’t end. The feelings didn’t kill me. They came in waves, receding further each time. And then…for a few seconds…I was at peace. The feelings were still there, but muted somehow. I could think around them.

Allowing the feelings to swamp me if they wished—because I could handle them—...

I was done feeling guilty for using what I’d been born to wield.

“I thought I’d made myself clear, wildcat. There is nothing you could do. Nothing you could tell me, no shame too great for you to share with me.”

“I don’t think it’s the memories of your life that you see when you die. I think it’s the people you’ll miss the most. The people who made your life worth living. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you see the one person you would defy the fates and stay for—if you could.”

Live a life you will be proud to tell all of us about when we see you again.