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“Girl! You’re going to kill yourself!” the guardian shouted. “Maybe. But what if I don’t?” I shouted back.
After she was killed, little by little, piece by piece, I’d watched him wither away, becoming less of himself. Becoming a shadow. The man that stood before me now was barely recognizable.
“The forgotten gods and all four fucking winds know that I’m not. Not after everything I went through to get it. I nearly broke my damned neck—” “I’ll break your neck if that thing isn’t out of here in the next fifteen minutes.”
But he saw the fire simmering inside me, ready to burn out of control, and for once, it gave him pause.
He has to face reality at some point. And I am doing this for him. Everything I do is for him.”
She used to call him her summer child. She’d never seen snow, but that’s what I had been to her: her ice storm. Distant. Cold. Sharp.
The supercilious prick hadn’t been shy about it. He’d told me I’d be back for more, and I’d told him in very colorful language that I’d snap his cursed cock right off his body if he ever tried to come near me with it again. Or something to that effect, anyway.
“I never met a rule I didn’t wanna break, Sunshine.”
“Can I not just be enamored by your beauty? Can I not just want to sit and listen to the angelic tone of your voice?” “I’m not beautiful. I’m filthy, and I’m tired, and my voice is full of sarcasm and annoyance, so let’s just get on with this, shall we?”
“Good. Oh, and, Saeris?” The guy just didn’t know when to quit. I spun around, scowling at him. “What!” “Even filthy and tired, you’re still beautiful.” “Gods and martyrs,” I whispered.
It was all luck. Good or bad. And luck could change at any moment.
With little more than an adjustment of my sword hand, I cut down, and then the guardian’s hand, still holding his sword, hit the sand with a dull thud. “My hand! She… she cut off my… hand!” “I’m coming for your fucking head next,” I seethed.
It was harsh, but sometimes the cruel things we said served the kindest purpose.
It isn’t disease that’s contagious in my ward, Captain. It’s dissent. Anarchy and rebellion spread like a wildfire.
Do you know much about metalwork, Captain? I do. It’s under the most unbearable conditions that the sharpest, most dangerous weapons are forged. And we are dangerous, Captain. She’s turned us all into weapons. That is why she won’t suffer my people to live.”
“Rumors are wicked things,”
“I’m not fond of rumors, Saeris Fane. Rumors are next-door neighbors to gossip, and gossip always breaks bread with lies. It’s just the way these things go.”
but I do have a nasty habit of letting paranoia get the better of me.”
Elroy told me how they slaughtered cows once. They hit them in the forehead with a piercing bolt, taking them by surprise. That’s how my guilt came at me on the heels of the queen’s promise: out of nowhere. Right between the eyes.
I had known Death’s voice to be a howling hot wind across the parched desert. A wet, hacking cough in the night. The urgent cry of a starving baby. I had never for one moment imagined his voice might also be the stroke of velvet in the ever-encroaching darkness.
Of course Death was beautiful. How else would anyone choose to go with him without putting up a fight? Even though he scowled at me, his dark brows tugging together to form a dark, unhappy line, he was still the most savagely beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
I lay in the darkness and shivered, wishing that she would fuck off. I didn’t want to be haunted by these ghosts. I wanted to slip into the nothingness, until the cold froze me over, and the silence blocked my ears, and I became nothing and forgot that I had ever lived.
But my definition of impossible needed revising, it seemed.
The three Fae were passing one of the many sets of alcoves occupied by statues of the gods. Everlayne bowed and touched her head to them as she hurried by. Ren grumbled, giving them a cursory nod. Kingfisher stuck out a hand and flipped all seven of them off as he stormed by.
“What about you is magic?” “Everything,” he said, entering the room. “My looks. My sword skills. My personality—” “Your personality is trash.”
“I’m going to kick his teeth down his throat,” Kingfisher announced. “How about you help me instead of threatening violence?” I countered.
He had a real knack for making me feel stupid, though. He didn’t need to do it. No, he did it because he wanted to. Arrogant bastard.
Humans and Fae were different in many ways, but sarcasm was universal.
“I have to say, I was expecting that to go differently,” he mused. And then I punched him square in the mouth.
“You could at least tell me what he did to make you punch him like that.” “Just trust me. He deserved it.” “Well, I don’t doubt that.”
Everlayne had been waiting for me when I returned to my room yesterday. She hadn’t banked on Kingfisher kicking in my bedroom door, me thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and wailing like a banshee. Nor had she expected his ultra-foul temper, his split bottom lip, or the thin line of blood trickling down his chin. She’d squawked when he’d thrown me unceremoniously down onto my bed and snarled, “Bad human,” at me.
“Warriors like Fisher don’t react kindly to violence.” “Are you saying that he’s so feral that one small right hook is enough to send him on an explosive killing rampage?” She thought about this while folding a blanket. It took her a while to make up her mind. “Yes,” she decided.
“I figured some extra protection was in order this morning since you’re now given to hurling yourself at me like some kind of rabid feline.” “Cats scratch,” I said flatly. “I came this close to knocking you on your ass.” “In your fucking dreams, human.”
I jerked when he snapped his fingers in front of my face. “You could at least say hello before you start eye-fucking me.” “I wasn’t eye-fucking you. I was trying to see through all of this… steam.” I wafted my hand for effect, but the air was clear, there was no steam, and Kingfisher did not look impressed.
“There are these other words, too. Please and thank you? I haven’t heard you use either yet, but I’m sure they’re a part of your vocabulary—” “They’re not,” he said brightly.
“What am I looking at?” “Bone,” Fisher said. “Human?” He shook his head. “I didn’t have any. Though, if you were willing to contribute—” “Stop.” Fisher stood up straight, half-closing one eye as he studied me. “Are your kind supposed to nap in the afternoons? You’re really grumpy. I’m the one with the hangover, y’know.” “What did you even do last night?” “Wouldn’t you like to know.” “Actually, forget it. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to know.” “Ren and I went to The Blind Pig. We gambled away half his savings and drank the bar dry. I’ll invite you next time.” I pulled a face. “Please
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“You definitely can’t kill it, then. Not if we destroyed its home.” “It’s going to bite you,” Kingfisher said. “No, it won’t. It—” It bit me.
“Let go, let go, leggo, leggo, leggo,” I pleaded. “Please let go. I don’t want to have to hurt you. I’m sorry we ruined your home. I promise we’ll build you an even better one.” “Don’t make promises on my behalf,” Kingfisher interjected. “I think it would make a great hat.” I growled at Kingfisher. The fox growled, too.
“Oh, look,” Kingfisher observed. “Finally. A use for all of that ridiculous material. Such a pretty little doll in her pretty little dress, aren’t you.” “Hey! I don’t want to wear this,” I snapped, plucking at the dress. “What was I wearing when you found me?” “A whole lot of blood.” Fisher pondered. Frowned. “Wait. I seem to recall that your intestines might have been a part of your ensemble.” “Pants and a shirt,” I said dryly. “And a pair of boots with really good soles. Do you have any idea what those boots cost me?” “Let me guess. Your virginity.” “Fuck you, Fisher.” “Sure.” He smirked.
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If I held you down and fucked you the way I’m imagining fucking you right now, I doubt that you’d survive it.”
“Lying is pointless with your heart betraying you so loudly.”
“It’s beating fast because I’m afraid,” I snapped. “Of me?” Kingfisher huffed a blast of laughter down his nose. “No, you’re not. You should be, but you’re not. That’s one of the things I like most about you.”
But a mirror’s sole purpose was to tell you the truth. It didn’t differentiate between good and bad. A mirror had no desire to soothe your troubles or deceive you. It was glass and nothing more. This pool of shining silver was awake and full of lies.
“I taught you a valuable lesson that will serve you well for the rest of your very short human life in this realm. Always pay attention to the fine print. The devil’s in the details.
My home was up there. Amongst the stars.
far—but Kingfisher was smart. He could be an angry, arrogant, half-mad, outrageously handsome piece of shit and an intelligent tactician at the same time. Turned out the two weren’t mutually exclusive.
To avoid far more serious pain, sometimes we have to endure a little sting.
So. Do you have any more annoying questions?” “I do, actually.
my body wasn’t as accomplished at lying as my mind was.
“She’s mine,” Fisher said.
