The Songbird & the Heart of Stone (Crowns of Nyaxia, #3)

by Carissa Broadbent

She looked at him like he was a question answered. He looked at her like she was the only one worth asking.

“We all have ghosts in our pasts, Iliae. We can’t give them the power to define our futures, too.”

Instead of calling to the sun with my joy, I called to it with my anger. Instead of attempting to control the light, I set it ablaze with my fury.

And then he said, after a moment, “I just played the notes that sounded like you.”

“It is an injustice, Mische, that this is what you got when you asked for love,” he murmured. “This isn’t what love should feel like.”

“I’ll tell you what you’ll have if you lose the sun, Mische. You’ll have a soul gentler than any vampire’s I’ve ever known. You’ll have an incredible magic and the skill to wield it better than the bastard who gave it to you. You’ll have a soft heart and a sharp wit and the wisdom to know when to use one or the other. You’ll have countless inane questions and horrible taste in food and a penchant for making lost souls love you.” I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. He leaned closer until his forehead touched mine. “And if you’ll take it, Mische Iliae, you will have me, too.”

“I’m patient,” he murmured. “A man can’t rush worship.”

“I’d burn with you till the end of it all, Dawndrinker.”