The Ragpicker King (The Chronicles of Castellane, #2)

by Cassandra Clare

Lin immediately felt truculent. “I was lost.” She could see his gray eyes widen behind the mask. “You got lost? How could you get lost? There is a path of flowers laid down that leads directly to the doors of the Armory—” Lin crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, how was I supposed to know that? You didn’t mention it.” He shook his head, causing a cascade of silver droplets to fly from his dark hair. “I didn’t think I had to mention every single thing—”

“I have been shouted at by famous ambassadors. Had inkpots and expensive ceramics thrown at me by furious diplomats. Been in more than one fistfight with a future monarch. Yet nothing, nothing, has ever infuriated me the way you do.”

YESSSS

“Does it matter? I don’t belong here.” “Lin.” She turned to see Conor looking at her; he was not wearing his crown she realized. “Your grandfather is the King’s Counselor. I invited you myself. You are no interloper at Marivent.”

“Why did you invite me?” And in that moment, she realized that this was the reason she had come. To ask him this question. To know why he wanted her here.

his gaze traveling from her eyes to her lips, over her body, weighted as the touch of a hand. She felt the heat in that look as it traveled over her, like a scatter of sparks against her skin. “Are you truly asking? Because I should not answer that. For my sake, for yours. For the sake of so many things.”

“I asked you because when I am not with you, Lin Caster, I feel as if some part of me has been torn away. I feel as if I am bleeding, insensible with the pain of a wound no one can see save myself. When you are with me…It is the only time I feel whole.”

Finally!!!

She heard him whisper, Lin, my Lin,

“Jem? My Jem?” PUT ME IN MY GRAVE

She could hear his desperate breathing as he held himself utterly still—for her sake, she knew, so as not to hurt her—though the effort made fine tremors run through him, his hands shaking at her waist.

The ribbon of the mask tickled her fingers. She kissed his mouth, tasted the rain on his skin. “It’s all right,” she whispered. “Love me. I want you to.”

She felt him break, felt the moment as he came to pieces in her arms, his fever-gasps of pleasure caught between them, and she knew he was wholly hers in this moment. That he belonged to her, to this space between and around them.

He kissed the palm of her right hand lazily. “Sweetheart,” he murmured, his voice rich and slow. “Never…not ever before…”

“You have to be careful, Monseigneur,” Antonetta said. She glanced quickly about the room before returning her gaze to him. “Careful about what you share with Kel.”

“They are naming the ship after Anjelica,” he said. “They never named a ship after me.” “Well, she is prettier.” “Debatable,” said Conor.

“Why compound the risk by coming to the Sault?” “Because.” His gray eyes were slits of silver. “I had to see you. I had to.”

He pulled her against him, his hand in her hair, his voice soft. “Lin, Lin. Don’t, sweetheart. Please.”

I have neglected every duty, every requirement, just to steal another moment with you. I feared that if anyone ever saw me with you, they would see it on my face, that I was an addict, that I would barter my birthright just to touch you—”

“Would you give up your marriage?” she whispered. “Cancel the alliance with Kutani? Make me Queen instead?” He had been bending over her; now he jerked upright. “You know I can’t. Lin. You know.”

“I made sure no pregnancy could take hold.” It was as if something vital went out of him then, like blood running from a cut. “As easily as that?” She recalled holding the cup of tea in both hands, hesitating; recalled how for a brief moment, the thought of a child with the most beautiful eyes in the world, silver as storm clouds, had flashed across her vision.

Bro why am i crying

It is the King’s turn to shake his head. Sparks fly from his crown as if it, like the land, is burning. “Come to me in my tower,” he rasps. “Take of my blood to fill your stone.”

You need nothing from him; you never have. And he cannot understand it. You might as well put him in a lifeboat and set him adrift. He grasped at that royal order because to him you are like water slipping through his hands. He knew no other way to hold you—and,”

Because if I had not, they would not have let him live. They cannot kill me; I am the phoenix itself. But thanks to me, Conor also bears its blood in his veins. It is a power he knows nothing of—and a power the Malgasi will always believe belongs to them. I always knew he was in danger. It is why I provided for him the Királar. The Sword Catcher.

There is more to the bond between a Prince and his Sword Catcher than you know. The Malgasi fear it. And

The Malgasi will come. They cannot be held back without great power. You will be that power. You will protect Castellane. You will protect your people. For without the Goddess, all are doomed.

“The Malgasi fear a legend,” he said. “Claim your power. Give them something true to fear.” —

And squarely between them, seated on a wooden chair, was Mariam.

“The Goddess healed, they say, with a touch. Your test, Lin Caster, is to heal your friend Mariam. Put your hands on her and heal her.”

“Seize Anjuman, Benaset,” said Joss, and his smirk was wound all through his voice, a sort of ugly triumph. “Hold him.”

omfg this is fucked

“The Ragpicker—” Kel started hoarsely before turning to Conor. “Jolivet,” he said. “Jolivet can explain.” Conor’s lips were white. He said, “So you don’t deny it.”

This is insane, Kel thought, feverishly. He tried to catch Conor’s eye, but Conor wasn’t looking at him. Wouldn’t look at him.

“Conor,” Kel said. “You know this isn’t true. You know I’m no murderer.” I’m a Sword Catcher. I protect you. I am no assassin.

“I am afraid to say that Kel is lying,” said Jolivet. “I never gave him any such instructions. It seems he has betrayed us all.”

this is crazyyyyy

“Mariam Duhary is well,” he added. “As if she had never been ill. She will live a long life, thanks to you.”

“You have been exiled, Lin. You are galut. Ashkar no longer.”

pretended to be something I am not, and I have been exiled for it. I have lost—so much.” She closed her eyes. “But you have also gained. Perhaps you cannot be the Goddess of the Ashkar people, but you can be a sorcerer, Lin. A Sorcerer-Queen.”

And she had lost Conor. She had chosen her home in the Sault over a home with him, and now the Sault did not want her.

“You cannot be so surprised as all that,” said Jolivet. “You always knew that one day you would die for Conor.”

If you were a different kind of soldier, Kel, and this were a different kind of war, you might have a medal pinned to you. Instead, I can offer you only an honorable death.”

What the actual

“You are already a dead man, Kellian. And the Palace of Marivent keeps counsel with the living.”

“I knew Conor was not suddenly asking me all these questions about the Ashkar because he was curious about my life,” said Mayesh. “I ought to have guessed he was curious about yours.” He hesitated. “You truly think he will listen to you?”

Even Conor’s pace was familiar to him. He would have known it anywhere. If I were dead and buried and those feet walked over my grave, I would know those footsteps.

oh my GODDDD

Kel was not sure how long he had been in the Trick now—three days? It was the longest he had gone in fifteen years without seeing Conor Aurelian.

“You cannot save me,” Kel said flatly. “That is what you mean.” “No,” Conor whispered. “All your decisions have brought us here. You have taken yourself away from me. And I can never forgive you for that.” “I don’t want to leave you,” Kel said.

“I am your Sword Catcher,” he said softly, and he saw Conor’s eyes shine in the dimness. “I bleed so that you will not bleed. I die so you can live forever.” “No one lives forever, Kel,” Conor said evenly, and walked away.

He brushed a kiss at her temple, his lips hot. “What makes you think you know me so well?” he whispered. “Because,” she said, “I love you.”

“The King is no longer any concern of yours,” he said. “I release you from your place as his physician. Consider this a binding royal order, Lin. Stay away from the Palace. Stay away from my father. And stay away from me.”

Slowly, the Exilarch rose to his feet. Without taking his gaze from hers, he said, “Asher. Tell her.” Lin’s head spun. Did he mean Asher Benezar, the Maharam’s son? Why was he invoking the name of someone exiled so long ago? The Ragpicker King sighed. “I am not sure she can be convinced, Aron. Lin is very stubborn.”

I KNEWWWW IT but am still stunned

Nor would he let himself think about what he was doing right now; nor that no one escaped from the Trick, that it had never been done. But surely no one who knows how to Crawl has ever tried it, he told himself.

“I do not know how Fausten may have felt,” Kel said, “but I would rather that you ended my life than that you let anyone else do it. My life was always yours anyway.”

He said, “You are my unbreakable armor. And you will not die.”

good lord my heart cannot handle this

He pulled Kel closer for a moment; Kel felt Conor’s lips brush his forehead and something cold settle around his neck.

this is actually insane