Song of Sorrows and Fate (The Broken Kingdoms, #9)

by L.J. Andrews

“Live—” He stared at the dark ground and cleared his throat. “Live and live again.” “Until death at crimson night.”

“Live and live again. I died in those . . . dreams, those memories. Are you . . . are you telling me I’ve . . . died before, only t-t-to live again?”

i’m shooketh

“I don’t matter,” he said, voice rough and dry. “He is gone and there is no life for me without him.”

sol and tor 😭

Valen was seeing moments of my Kind Heart. A fate tale that had yet to unfold, and my phantom in the dark was singing the tune of it. You’re doing this for him. I smirked to the emptiness of the room. You’re a sentimental bastard, Whisper.

“I am proud of you,” Petter said. “I will save you a seat with us in the great hall, my boy.”

THIS BOOK HURTS ME

“Good. Sing me back to you.” What will you be called? Each tale, each life, took a different name, a different storyteller. I didn’t hesitate, as though the name burned the tip of my tongue, begging to get out. “Calista.”

MY HEART AND SOUL YEARN FOR REINCARNATED LOVERS TROPE LIKE THIS AHHHHHH

Then it is the beginning of the end. Find me, Little Rose. Find me again.

With slow, tender movements, I cupped the damaged side of his face. He blew out a rough breath and tilted his head into my touch. For a long pause, we simply stayed there, heads together, breathing deeper until our emotions calmed.

“Do you know what it’s like to watch the light of your soul die over and over? Do you know what it’s like to burn for lifetimes for another who fears you in the end?”

Something sturdy and unbreakable, a promise that he wouldn’t hurt again. A desire to fight off all the demons that came for him, the enemies, the blades; I wouldn’t let them near my Whisper.

A song of sorrow and fate tied us together

AHHHH

He didn’t respond, but he didn’t need to. Silas, my phantom voice, was the deepest bond. Deeper than the heart, he was a piece of my soul.

“You were left to live this way all to bring me back? You are the bond—gods—you lived such an existence simply to keep me alive?”

GOODBYE

“I would do it all again to see you breathing.”

nobody look at me

“Say the word, Silas,” I whispered, tilting my head, “and I would follow you through the lifetimes.”

My damn body was splitting in two. From the center of my chest to the top of my skull, I was on fire. A beautiful destruction of want and need and wholeness at long last.

NOW THATS WHAT I CALL YEARNING

Stun bled into want. Unease bled into desire. Fear bled into obsession.

Part of me wanted to devour her. I wanted to bite and scratch and taste my way into her. The other side wanted to study every divot, every curve, every beautiful surface of her body until the dawn.

this MAN

Now, she took everything. My friendship, my voice, my heart, my soul. She could have it all. I was always destined to bow to her. I owned nothing, for everything I had to give had always belonged to the storyteller.

“You don’t like to be touched?” “I like to be touched by you.”

Damn the hells. Arousal was harsh and cruel with her sweet body straddling mine.

lmao

Gods, how did a man keep control when the fiercest desire of his heart rocked against his damn length? Was it even possible? Or did every male in existence lose control in his bleeding trousers?

this is so cassian coded PFFFFT

Did she know she was destroying me?

BARS

Desire trembled through me, and if she did not keep her hands on me, I would not be able to draw another breath.

brO

My sole focus was leading Calista Ode back to the first song, so naturally the rest of the world faded into insignificance.

naturally

Olaf glanced at me, as though I might reel her back. Fool. I would not stop her voice for anything—her voice was my freedom, my peace, it was the thickest part of my blood that kept my damn heart beating.

I LITERALLY CANT HES PERFECT

“I know. We’ll question the sea singer captured by the blood fae and hope we gain some answers on the other kingdoms.”

oh shit

My heart rushed when Calista curled her hand around my arm, almost possessively. To have anyone care what became of me was a forgotten notion. I could not decide if it made me want to shrink into oblivion, or pull her against me and take her mouth, so no one questioned she was mine.

SWEET BOY

“Cuyler.” She released my arm and took his. All at once, the unfair desire to hate him grew more potent.

lmao

Calista’s eyes glimmered with panic and something vicious. “You coming, Whisper?” I smirked. “Wherever you go, Little Rose.”

“The earth fae remains near the Ever Ship.”

i am GIDDY

“When you meet the Ever King again, a word of advice—if you wish to keep your lives, I wouldn’t make him bleed.”

EEEEEEE

“Hand in hand, you must stand,” Oviss chanted, “all gifts united in our first land.” Forbi hummed. “Sing a tale.” “Bring them home,” Danna said, voice soft. Oviss finished gently with, “Only then will defeat or victory be known.”

It frightened me to know my choices were not my own. But what if, long ago, a path began merely because a little boy and a little girl cared for each other? What if, before two children even knew anything about heart songs and love of souls, they chose each other?

A song of blood keeps life for the one you love. Trust and let it be, in this a tale of land and sea.

ERIK AND LIVIA

Her distress was . . . distressing. I did not want her to think I resented it—how could I? She had always been, even before the world shattered, my friend, my safe one, my heart. The hells had consumed me, no mistake, all these turns. But now, even with the fear in her eyes, it was worth it.

i’m on the floor

“You are the words of my songs. Without your existence, it is nothing more than a tune.” “And you are the spirit behind my words.”

“You lost your wits?” A splash of pink tinged the tips of her ears. “Yes, when I practically ate you.” The kiss. I cracked the knuckles of my thumbs and turned away. “Then I rather like when you lose your wits.”

We had minor strengths on our own. Dream walking, I’d discovered, was mine. Calista could predict destiny through premonitions like star seers. But together her words and my voice opened the power to unravel the path of fate.

AHHHHHHH

I don’t mind if you speak to shadows, Silas, but let me be the one to hold the candle and walk with you through the darkness.”

SHAMBLES, I SAY

My heart was bonded to hers; every fiber of my being was hers to claim. A piece of the tale, but if she did not wish to accept a fated bond, I would not force it. I would let her go. I would stand beside her. Even if I couldn’t have her.

GOODBYEEEEEEE

With a flurry of kicks, I tossed the furs of the bed off my body and paced near the foot of the bed. Hair stuck to the damp on my forehead, my skin was flushed in prickles of heat, and my bleeding pulse was on fire in my veins.

lowkey calista is in heat LMAO

So, my heart bonded with the boy who’d always cared for me, the boy who’d always seen me as I was and never tried to change it. What did it matter? I’d picked him before fate bonded us together.

Silas, my phantom, my whisper, he wanted me to decide if my heart ached for him. It didn’t ache for him. It lived for him.

One pace from his back, I paused to admire the way his long fingers took to the strings of the lyre.

SO real

“I’ve taken long enough to make my choice.” I tilted his face and waited for those tortured eyes to hold mine. “You’re my Whisper. My voice in the dark. You’re mine.”

TORTURED

“This ends the tale, Little Rose. I do not know the outcome. You do this, there are no backward glances. Accept the bond, then you belong to me. The way I have always belonged to you.” Gods, he was . . . intense.

“The Norns keep trying to take credit for bringing me back to you,” I said, a smirk on my mouth. “But the truth is, Silas, we bested those stupid fates long before they found us. You were mine before the world broke. You’ve been mine through the lifetimes. You will always be mine.”

Bonded, deeper than the heart. He was mine to my soul.

“I rarely feel safe in this world,” I said softly against his mouth. “But the moment I saw you in the dark, the moment you took my hand, it was as though all the fears faded. Even for a moment.”