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She is a storm to weather on your best days, and one that drowns you on your worst.
But what made me a good captain, and an even better king, is that surviving has never been one of my goals.
Thorns have covered my skin for longer than I can remember, spearing for the soft parts of others before they can find the soft parts in me.
A world without creativity is stagnant, and stagnancy is nothing but a slow death.
And there’s truth in the thought, even if I don’t want to examine it too closely—I’ve lived with the pain for so long, I wouldn’t know how to exist without it. Maybe my body instinctively drives toward more, because it knows nothing else. Like an addict.
She has yet to learn that though we live in a fairy tale, the only wishes granted here are ones of agony.
I know the cost of allowing someone to burrow inside me all too well.
I hadn’t been able to find any evidence of her past on her body, but perhaps I hadn’t looked deep enough. Maybe all the scars are hidden beneath her skin, imprinted on her bones.
For when you’ve been touched so deeply by pain, the compassion needs to be even more forceful, or it won’t be felt at all.
It was a unique form of torture, wanting her so badly while hating myself for every moment I did.
Enduring pain is an acquired skill, and a moment’s relief only makes it worse when it returns.
He’s no different than anyone else in my world. Niko doesn’t see me; he sees what I can do for him. I’ve lived through enough to know the difference.
It’s all I’ve ever done. I’ve never made a place better by being there, never made someone better for knowing me. It’s always the opposite.
“I would give you everything beautiful you’ve been denied, Willa.”
I recklessly and systematically destroyed myself. They’d ruined me, but I could ruin me better.
I’m sorry for your pain. I’m sorry for the way you’ve torn yourself apart and given up all the pieces to everyone else. I see the holes. I know what they cost.
So that no matter what happens—whether she leaves or stays long enough to hate me—there will be an imprint of this moment.
To the rest of the world, Willa is cold as steel—hard and unfeeling. But with me, she’s fucking electric.
“Sometimes words aren’t written to be happy. Tragedy can be just as beautiful.”
“I’ve spent my entire life in unscathed skin. Ruin me, Niko.”
