Night of Masks and Knives (The Broken Kingdoms, #4)

by L.J. Andrews

In the loft, under the stars, littles could be little, and first loves could be safe and kind and wanted.

Doubtless we were an odd sight: a skinny woman with a knife, and a man at her feet.

True, my stepfather had more penge than he knew how to spend, but what did it mean when I was nothing but a forgotten, unwed, unwanted burden of the man who’d taken on a woman with her infant daughter? The woman died before I could walk. I was left with a man who resented me, and two older step-brothers. One who’d like to slit my throat for the sport of it. The other who loved me well, but had been locked in a Howl sea prison for two turns after a business deal went wrong in a distant kingdom.

Unbidden, a boy’s frightened screams and ghostly images of the crowds barring me from him came to mind. Then, those screams faded until they were gone entirely. Like always, when I thought of the day I lost Kase, I coiled a few strands of my sunset red hair around my fingers until the unease settled in my stomach.

I’d find Kase again. And, no mistake, my first kill would be the one who took him.

″You know, Elof, I think it was better when we did not speak.” ″Agreed, dännisk. Go to sleep in your warm little bed.” Oh. I did not care much for oddly handsome Elof anymore. My mistake breaking the façade of his princely face by causing him to speak.

I’m not a bleeding little, Mallie. You’re not a man either, you sod. I’m older than you, and I don’t need this kind of stuff no more. My smile mingled with tears in the mane. Kase had whined and complained over getting a stuffed toy—one I’d spent the better half of a month scrimping and saving for the stuffing to make it—but there wasn’t a night he didn’t sleep with Asger beside him.

Elof’s voice turned dark. “In fact, I think you ought to hurry back to your loft. Now.”

″No,” Elof said under his breath. “This is not possible.”

He had tried to compel her ?? And it didnt work?

Our destinies were tangling together, and I could not stop it. Wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to stop it. A man would be a fool to risk drinking his poison. To knowingly weaken his resolve. I was becoming the fool.

For the sake of a family who did not truly care for me, I would need to leave for good. I didn’t think it would hurt as it did. Like a hot knife carving out my heart.

Ugh Mal :(

Hells, if the Kryv ever learned I stole away with a child’s toy, they’d probably toss me into the Howl, thinking I was too mad to be handled.

me thinking about who nightrender is: "i know something you dont knowww""

I didn’t take well to my foundation being rocked, and to have her among us would shift everything.

Whether I wished to or not, I’d honor the bargain. She’d join us, and for the coming weeks the Nightrender would be a piece of her existence. Only the Nightrender. I would be no one else. No matter what other names she discovered.

Oooooookay sure bud

For her sake or mine, I didn’t know, but this conflict of wanting her and resisting her grew tiresome.

Raum answered as he ran to catch up to us, Vali behind him. “Shall we? I wanted to be here at the front to catch your face when you meet the Nightrender.”

I hated how his face reminded me more of Kase than Prince Fell.

He resembled a boy I once loved, so his face was not unworthy to look upon.

″Nephew of a rebel king,” Tova whispered to me, mouthing a prince as she jabbed her thumb at Gunnar. She closed her eyes and gave me a little nod as if she’d cleared up all confusion.

Lmfao i love tova

″Now. It’s now,” Raum hissed, shaking out his hands, grinning that foolish grin at Vali again.

Raum is me. I am raum. We are one

“I already decided I’m takin’ vows with you, stupid.

HAHAHA BEST QUOTE

Malin Strom was a thorn in my side. A hope in my heart.

My heart ached for him. Not as a Kryv, not even as Hagen’s son. More for the pain beneath his sharp eyes. I made grand plans to be his confidant, should he need one.

“Wise to let go of something that died long ago.”

YOURE BEING AN ASS AND YOU KNOW IT

I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, especially Tova who would tease me endlessly, but the night felt less safe knowing the Nightrender wasn’t joining us.

My skin bubbled in angry heat. To sit there and play as if he cared for nothing, well, the Nightrender could hide behind those damn shadows all he wanted. They were not so dark to me anymore.

AHH im so excited for her to call him out

Our deals were not soft and pretty, they were vicious and unforgiving. The same as I tried to be. So, it made little sense to me how a few harrowed glances from a woman who couldn’t even strap her knives correctly had me unsettled and wanting to lash out at anything that moved.

Oh how i love them

“You cannot hide your heart behind shadows forever, Nightrender,” Malin called out. I wheeled around, on the verge of losing what little control I had left. “We face the Masque av Aska. Sharpen your blades and forget your heart, dännisk. Or you will not last long.”

“I expected to find him changed, but I didn’t expect him to hate me.” ″Did you consider, hate is simply one of his weapons to keep those with the power to ruin him from doing just that?”

And if i cry right now?? What then??

No mistake, he did not want me to know the cruel details of what happened to the boy I lost at a masquerade. Naturally, it made me want to know everything.

I love a nosy woman

I was a bleeding weakling in my resolve to detest the man.

Our fingers touched again at the exchange. I drew in a sharp breath when, for a moment, Kase curled the tips of his fingers around mine. Only a breath, a mere heartbeat, then he released me, stretching his hand as if something irritated his skin.

THE HANDFLEX FBSKDBISBF

His dark illusions surrounded him. Ergo, according to his own confession, he did not trust me.

Now, they were my home.

Excuse me while i break down in tears???

I wanted more and would always deny it for myself.

Hells, she’d die beside me if she didn’t get some bleeding brains and leave. No matter how callous, how icy I’d been to her, she bore her heart on the outside and would let it die before she left anyone behind.

Twine hung around his neck, and a sob scraped from my throat at the sight of what was on the end. The wooden raven I’d returned, but the second pendant was a terribly shaped rose with rough-cut petals.

Oh, and take my advice on something for I am wiser than you—don’t be the Nightrender to her. Be Kase. I think you will be glad you did.”

Truth be told, I didn’t know how to be Kase. Not anymore. But for the first time in turns, I wanted to be.

I thought if you hated what I’d become, we would remain distant, and you would not unravel everything I buried long ago.” ″Did it work?” ″No.” I whispered. “You’ve always been my undoing.”

BANSHEE SCREAMING

One wrong look, one twitch of the eye, one move to show who you cared for the most could be the difference between the upper hand and losing it all. Like a heartsick fool, I’d let her dig back inside. No mistake, the risk of our game increased tenfold.

The tunic barely struck me at my knees. I cleared my throat. “Turn around if you please.” A wickedness lived in Kase’s golden eyes. One that spun a web of heated delight low in my stomach. “Twice now you’ve asked me to turn away. There won’t be a third.”

YOOOOO??????

“Next time you could warn me.” ″Maybe I enjoy making you gasp.”

Inge spent time with a parchment pad and charcoal pen, sketching out a design. Without a word she held out the concept for approval. A remarkable gown. Full, no sleeves, and an intricate corset made of ribbons over the bodice. ″Fit for a future queen,” Kase said. “Do you agree?”

″Malin.” My name off his tongue came like a plea. As if he were begging me to stop him, to keep him from crossing the line between us. I would do no such thing. He’d stolen my heart when we were young, and I’d never asked for it back.

the application of the crystal powder to Lord Niall’s fine coat. If ever Niklas’s elixirs needed to work, it would be that powder.

For him to take interest in Malin? But something goes wrong and he becomes obsessed im guessing

She’d caused a stir in my feckless boyish heart then, and now had dug into what blackened, shriveled thing I had left. It was not a kind heart, not giving, not warm. But it was hers.

Malin Strom was my beautiful downfall. And I would take any pain if it meant more of her. Ruin me. Brutalize me. Just give me her.

What I would do to get her free of this place. There were no lengths I would not go. No man I would not kill. I would burn the world to the ground to keep her breathing and in my arms.

“Be a brute as you please, be wicked if you like, but be Kase in these moments with me.”