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They mirrored the phrase that chased her from dreams and nightmares her entire life, said in a voice that whispered of shadows and starlight. Love is a weakness.
Allume, the raw magic native to the realm of the gods, collected and transported all throughout the kingdom through a complex system of piping and panels made of lunestair
She knew what Mariah feared most wasn’t just being stuck in Andburgh; it was being caged. Anywhere. To be told what to do by someone who wasn’t her, told who to be and how to act and to have her free will drained from her body until she was nothing more than a husk of herself.
As those forest-green irises flashed up to meet her stare, Lisabel swore she saw something silver
“I love you more than the stars in the sky, my light. Never forget that.”
“I present to you all, for the very first time, the new Queen Apparent of Onita: Mariah Salis.”
That sort of love could only be a weakness.
“This is … this is mine?” Beside her, Ciana brusquely hit Mariah’s shoulder with her own. “Don’t question it, you idiot,” Ciana hissed. “If you don’t want to move in here, I’ll gladly take it instead.”
This fucking bitch.
that every sword needs a shield, every great power must be grounded, and even the strongest need protecting.”
“I am Mariah Salis, Chosen by the Golden Goddess as the Queen Apparent to the Onitan throne.”
Those eyes stole his breath from his lungs and pulled apart the last threads of his shredded free will. They were so green, the color and life of a rich forest bottled up and placed into the eyes of a creature with the power to consume him. Andrian hated her eyes most of all.
It was positively terrifying and beautiful all at once. A dark goddess stood before him.
I had a dream last night. I dreamed of silver and gold flames, of leathery wings, both blazing and shadowed. I dreamed of that which was feared, saving us all. And I dreamed that without darkness, we can never experience the light.
“Now, Quentin. Since you seem the most concerned with my training, I’d like you to get into this pit with me. I’m assuming your sparring with Sebastian was just a warmup?”
“I’m ready. But … I’m not entirely sure how to do this.” His smile softened, and he stood from where he’d been seated beside her at the table. He then extended a hand to her, and she took it, rising as well. “That’s okay. I’ve got you.”
“I’m not sure if this is the only night you’ll give me. And since it very well may be, I intend to take this opportunity to worship you fully.”
“Quentin, keep your dick in your pants. Now is not the time.”
A pain in her ass whose nose she had a slight desire to break.
nio.
“That name you keep calling me. Tell me what it means.”
A glancing smirk over his shoulder. “‘Bitch.’”
I dreamed of that which was feared, saving us all. And I dreamed that without darkness, we can never appreciate the light.
But … it was just the thought of someone else touching her. When he’d looked into her eyes, when his hand was wrapped around the soft skin of her neck, her cheeks flushed that infuriating shade of cherry red, he’d been overwhelmed with the feeling that she was his, that no one could touch her skin or see that blush except for him.
Fucking ridiculous, all of it.
No. This was not a matter of pride. This was a matter of taking back power from men who never deserved to wield it.
Andrian’s chest heaved, his heartbeat thudding like the beats of a drum. His shadows wound uncontrollably through the air around him, a writhing mass of ebony ropes snapping in agitation.
He sat up with a jolt, sleep still heavy in his eyes, clutching his chest and his racing heart. His skin was slick with sweat, and his muscles trembled with adrenaline and fear. Something was very, very wrong.
Andrian didn’t want to know what he would find past those doors. Didn’t want to know, but also needed to know. If something had hurt her, if someone had touched her, had reached her there in the protected heart of the palace …
He would tear this entire castle down, brick by golden brick. And then once he’d found who was responsible, he’d tear them apart, piece by piece.
He almost grinned at the look of shock that flared across her face. You asked for this, princess. Andrian then strode back out of her bedroom, toward the exit to her suites, the sounds of the others beginning their sweep of her rooms already distant and muted to his ears.
and another line of black hair on his lower abdomen, disappearing beneath the waist-band of his pants—
tanzanite and forest
“Your body betrays you, nio. You say you despise me, that you shouldn’t have come here tonight—yet you made that choice, not me. And now I’m here”—he slipped a finger beneath her underwear, pressing it ever so slightly into her as if in emphasis, drawing a whispered moan from her throat—“and I’m calling your bluff.”
“Fine. Call my bluff.”
“But I’m calling yours, too.”
“I hated you from the very second you stepped out of that carriage on the day of the Choosing.”
“I hated the fire I saw in your eyes. I hated how that fire heated me, melted the wall of ice I’d worked for years to build. I hated how easily you were able to worm your way into my thoughts without even trying.”
“You will be my undoing, nio. Whenever you think it was you who lost control, remember—it was me who lost control first.”
Even in her pleasure-addled state, Mariah had a sudden and distinct urge to kick him in the throat.
Andrian Laurent was outrageously gorgeous when clothed. Naked, he was devastating.
“You can stare as much as you want, as long as you promise to keep blushing like that.”
“Fuck you.” She felt his lips twitch against her cheek. “As you wish, My Queen.”
“Reisligr, nio.”
“What if she’s not a Shawth? What if she’s not Royal at all?” Andrian blurted the words, unable to hold his tongue. It was like something had reached down his throat and hauled them out as soon as the thoughts had flitted through his mind. As his father slowly, too slowly, turned his head away from the window and back to his son, Andrian knew it had been the wrong thing to ask. “That would be … impossible. But since you asked the question, Andrian, let me just say this: I will never serve, and will never allow a son of mine to serve, a non-Royal queen, someone of low-born blood who is not
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“The second I saw you, not just in the temple but in the palace courtyard, I knew I wouldn’t be able to say no to you. I tried to fight it, trust me. But …” He inhaled deeply, turning his gaze back to the ceiling before exhaling through his teeth. “But you won.”
“Don’t worry about how I know. We have this day, this one day, without interruption. And I don’t intend to waste it.”
The stables smelled of hay and horse and leather and home.
“My shadows, after all, have been far too eager to taste you. I suppose it’s as good a time as any to indulge them.”
“For once in your Goddess-cursed life, princess, fucking listen to me. It’s just us. You said you wanted to know what my magic can do, and all I’m asking in exchange is for you to kneel.”
