A Twist of the Blade (Shadows and Crowns, #2)

by S.M. Gaither

“I love you too,” she said softly.

“There is always… a chance. Fate is a powerful thing, but it does not always get the final word.”

I don’t know what happens next. But I have to fight.”

“I don’t know what happens next, either. But I am certain of one thing: If you are going to war, then I am going with you.”

This was a city that whispered of past pains, that groaned beneath the weight of its losses. It had been reclaimed and rebuilt after Anric’s sieges, maybe, but it was still clearly a shadow of its former self.

A feeling of resilience abounded, but it was difficult to acknowledge such a thing without being aware of the darkness that had preceded it.

The threat of that darkness falling over this city—and others—was what pushed Cas onward, even in spite of her fear.

It doesn’t matter. Family is not always blood, and blood is not always family.

Never mind the rest. She could go now. So she did.

You had a different body. A different name. A different voice. But your essence is the same. Your soul is the same.”

A woman reincarnated with the very powers Malaphar wanted to steal, born into a family that the gods could not touch because of a deal he made, and that also had a connection to the servant he had hoped to use to circumvent said deal.”

You are a living, breathing Heart of the Sun.”

Because he knew her—all of her, including these weak, desperate, frightened parts. And he loved all of those parts, and perhaps that was why he was already tossing the blanket aside and rising slowly, somewhat shakily, to his feet.

He stood like a human, and he had spoken in a human-like voice, but his body was too big, too wild, and covered in ridges of black armor that looked as if it might have been fused into his actual skin. His face was the color of a corpse, his glowing eyes nearly as pale, and he had wings—dark, glistening wings that looked as though they would touch the ceiling if he extended them.