The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom, #1)

by Rachel Gillig

To tell a story is in some part to tell a lie, isn’t it?

Severe, rimmed in charcoal, his eyes were so brown they might easily be mistaken for black.

A coin, an inkwell, an oar, a chime, and a loom stone.

And what a useless thing pity is, for a guest is always a kind of trespasser.

But no carpet felt finer than being barefoot on grass,

“First things first.” Rory bit the finger of his glove and peeled it off. “How well can you actually see through that shroud?” “I can see just fine—” He threw his glove. It smacked me on the nose and plopped to the stones at my feet. “A vision issue?” Rory pondered. “Or just slow reflexes?”

LMFAOOAO

I looked down at him through a rain-soaked shroud and he up at me through impossibly dark eyes, and for that moment we were his coin—two sides, perfectly balanced. His speed, my strength, like it was chance, only chance, that had determined which of us had come out on top.

“Your turn, Myndacious,” I said, breathless. “Hit me as hard as you can.” I flickered away. “If you can.”

banter too good i’m cheesing in the break lounge 😭

“That’s not why—” My cheeks burned. “Don’t laugh.” The echoes of his chuckle still lingered in the air. “I’ve never laughed in my life.”

LMAO WHY IS THAT SO FUNNY

Errant knight Rodrick Myndacious, prideful, disdainful, godless, believed in me.

“The thing is—I think I’d do anything you asked of me.”

“It is not like me to be the bearer of bad tidings,” the gargoyle said. “Bartholomew does not know how to swim. But worry not—” He looked up at me. Smiled proudly. “She has always excelled at drowning.”

And the pain, the pain I knew so well from drowning, from dreaming— Was now the pain of awakening.

For the first time since before I could remember, I cried. It hurt more than drowning.

this is what feels liketo cry

“Anger is a fine weapon, Diviner,” she said, quiet enough so the others wouldn’t hear. “So long as you don’t point it at yourself.

Sadness, like birch bark, had all the appearance of frailty. And yet… The tree prevailed.

People who love you for your usefulness don’t love you at all.”

“When you do the right thing for the wrong reason, no one praises you. When you do the wrong thing for the right reason, everyone does, even though what is right and wrong depends entirely on the story you’re living in. And no one says they need recognition or praise or love, but we all hunger for it. We all want to be special.”

“Losing something is painful. Sometimes, finding what we’ve lost is just as agonizing.”

Swords and armor are nothing to stone.

And then they were like all the other things I’d dared to love. Gone.