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Edric thinks no more of the daughter he doomed to death.
Hes so cruel
The image of Adena’s limp body in my lap is all I see when I meet Blair’s unfeeling gaze.
“I will do so much worse,” I pant. “I’ll make you beg.”
I’m content to let her cower behind an ability, if only so I can watch the life flicker out in her eyes.
They’re vicious, these thoughts. Cruel. So unlike Adena— Adena isn’t here to save me from myself anymore.
this has always been inside of you.”
“You just wanted someone to blame for it.”
“You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
for the first time in my life, I don’t hear weakness in those words.
No, I hear a little girl crying over her father’s dead body and surviving despite it. I hear the roar of an Elite crowd, chanting for the Ordinary beneath their noses who crafted her own power. I hear strength where shame once was, fearlessness where I would once cower.
Yours was given. But mine…” I shake my head. “Mine was found.”
The only freedom I seek resides in ending the girl who took away my light. I lunge for her.
That dark, terrifying side of me stamps out all fear and pain and sane thought as I pin Blair Archer to the scorched floorboards.
A numbness spreads through me, like every nerve has decided to turn a blind eye to my violence.
I no longer feel either.
I memorize this moment, right down to the terror flickering in her gaze.
“You don’t know pain,” I whisper. She fights against me with her own strength, too weakened to use her power. I smile. “Not until it skewers you through the chest.”
“I told you I would make you beg.”
That comforting numbness bleeds from my body until all I feel is pain.
I know what it looks like to get lost in the rage, the power of controlling another’s fate.
I stand, because the look in Paedyn’s eyes say she will find me later. And I leave, because she is not mine to worry about.
Life would be so much easier if I didn’t want to spend it with her. But nothing so stunningly formidable could go unwanted.
“I killed her. I… I was a monster. Her skin was melting beneath my palm and still I—” She sucks in a breath. “I have never been so vicious. It was terrifying, this person I became. This darkness swelling within me. And worst of all”—she chokes—“it didn’t help.”
“I thought it would help this hurt,” she whispers. “This hole in my heart where Adena used to be. But it’s still there.” Her eyes lift, brimming with tears. “Just as gaping as it was the day she died in my arms.”
“It didn’t bring her back.” The sword clatters to the floor, her tears falling with it. “I’ll never get her back.”
“You and me, Brother.” “You and me,”
His words crumble something inside me, maybe the stony indifference I’ve built around my heart as of late.
“Don’t be nervous today. You’re going to kill it.” I groan slightly. “I’d rather not do any more killing, thank you.”
Once, I risked my life for a piece of Adena. Now, I stride toward a kingdom who doesn’t want me. Soon, I may sacrifice myself in the hopes I mean something more in death than I did in life.
Everywhere I look, the past lingers.
he threw a blade with the aim of a warrior, but the damning heart of a fool. I can still feel that knife cut through the air beside me, intention alone steering it from my flesh.
Here, he told me to run. And I did. Right bac...
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This arena was once filled with Resistance members, covered in the blood of those brave enough to fight for themselves but too weak to win.
The audience is craving a bloody act of brutality, and with the sudden crescendo of spirited shouts in my direction, they are likely hoping I will be the casualty.
The last time I saw this Pit, it was streaked with Adena’s blood.
All trace of her death is gone, having abandoned this place to dwell inside me. Every drop of blood, every cry for help, every moment that passes without her is etched onto my soul.
It’s like looking into the face of a ghost.
Past and present collide to create the confusing concoction that is him. Not quite his father, but not quite the boy I once knew.
a mere mosaic of each jagged piece of strength and cutting recklessness it took to have m...
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I know how terrifying you can be, so just… be that.”
“I need you to win this, okay? Don’t stop being a cockroach now, Princess.”
I have no idea what it is I’m winning. No idea if it will be worth it in the end.
“After this,” he shouts, “I won’t get to call you Princess anymore.” His smile is bittersweet. “I’ll have to call you Queen.”
“If Paedyn can complete this Trial, she will have proven herself to be brave, benevolent, and brutal.
Ilya will have its queen.”
“brutality is often needed. So for this Trial, it will be a fight to the death.”
To the death. I have to kill someone.
Not my friend. Not my betrothed. Just a king who ordered me to be his killer. And suddenly, I know how Kai must feel.
This is a nightmare. This is pretend.
I can feel the exact moment my heart shatters. It’s when I turn, my eyes crashing into ones well memorized. When mist meets the deepest sea. When a Shadow faces its Flame. When inevitability meets its end.
Omfg no
