What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)

by Harper L. Woods

He brought it down across my elbow, severing my forearm from my body with a single swing. I clenched my teeth together, throwing my head back in pain as he repeated the motion with the other arm. The wound sizzled from the iron, and I watched through dazed eyes as he wiped my blood off his sword on the leathers of my armor.

got damn

Some secrets are better left in the dark.

Silence met me in response, because neither of us had been willing to consider the fact that I may be something more. More powerful than my mate.

My own twitched into a smile. “How brave you must feel to spit on a chained woman when surrounded by your friends. Let me assure you, boy,” I said, smiling when he sucked in a ragged breath. I had no doubt he was older than me. “I do not need my magic to kill you.”

period....

“I was told Alfheimr had special products for washing hair that would make it sparkle with life,” I said, glancing toward where Mab eyed me with disdain. “You’ll earn such luxuries in time if you behave,” she said, continuing to eat the berries from the bowl on the table. “I’ve never been very good at doing what I’m told,” I said, dragging my fingers through the snarls in my hair.

lmfao

“What fun would it be if she just took your punishment lying down and begged for mercy? How dreadfully boring it would be to have my new plaything behave the same way everyone else in this forsaken Court does,” she said, smiling at me.

hate her so much

“Even the brightest of lights fails to shine for long.”

would you like to know what really solidified that knowledge?” I asked, lifting the goblet to my mouth. I took a sip of the wine, letting the bold flavors dance over my tongue as I swallowed and resisted the urge to go back for more in my thirst. “It was the moment I cut you. Listening to your people whisper about you, knowing some mortal girl could not bleed the Queen of Air and Darkness.”

that partttttt

“You did cut me. I’ll give you that,” she said, rolling and cracking her neck. “You would be a fool to think you can do it again now that I know not to underestimate you. You played your hand far too early in this game, and now you’ve only given me more power over you.” “I guess we’ll find out whether or not that’s true in time,” I admitted, nodding thoughtfully. The odds were not in my favor. “I’ve offered you the chance to bathe, given you some of my best wine, and offered you a dinner the likes of which you’ve never seen, I suspect. Still, you sit there and openly mock me, plotting my demise. What am I to do with that?” she asked.

“She was good…” “How good could she have been if she was mated to the likes of you?” I asked,

eeekkkk

“I’m fairly certain my imagination works far more efficiently than anything he could conjure up with the rocks cracking together inside his skull,” I said, pushing to my feet.

lmfao

“I’ve no reason to hurt her so long as she proves herself useful. I did not lie with her father so that she could prove to be without magic. At some point or another, she’ll have no choice but to free whatever waits within her,” Mab said.

so damn evil..

“Because there is privilege in beauty. There is power in taking away the breath of your enemy so that they never see you ready to slit their throat, too fixated on the curve of your lip. There is strength in allowing yourself to appear fragile, all the while knowing that your pretty silken skirts hide a dagger that could carve the heart from a male’s chest,”

I would love her until chaos reigned, no matter what or who tried to come between us. I would gladly suffer the pain of a thousand knives rather than allow another woman to touch me in the way that only Estrella had the right to.

“Do you have nothing to say for yourself? No apology to sweetly murmur to me? Many males would kill to be in your place, I’ll have you know,” she said, her lips twisting into the slightest hint of a pout. To live for centuries and still require the reassurance of a male companion was a particularly sad trait, and in anyone less despicable, I might have felt pity. But not for her. “So fuck one of them,” I said,

I needed to embrace the fact that femininity did not equal weakness. That it was only the standards men placed upon us that made us believe the two were mutually exclusive.

“I suppose you can only do so much to dress up a pig.” She turned her back on me, making her way back up the dais as the crowd chuckled.

i would've had to smack her......

Women did not insult the attractiveness of those they thought beneath them. They insulted those they perceived to be a threat, wielding their own insecurity as a weapon against them.

“You are nothing to him, whereas I am his entire world. Dressed up pig or not.” “You insolent, little shit—” Malazan snarled, spinning to face me fully as she took a step in my direction.

“I’ll pass,” I muttered, holding her gaze. I’d take the torture. I’d take a public lashing. But Mab only grinned. “I don’t remember asking.”

lmbo she so rude its hilarious.

“I warned you that your heart is your greatest weakness,” Mab said, a

“The magic of the binding is complex,” she said, pursing her lips as she studied me. “You have to be willing. Children are much easier to manipulate into accepting it. A few days without food will have them begging for scraps, more willing to accept anything I offer as payment. But you, you would sooner die than bind yourself to me for eternity. I need you broken first.”

evil

“One of these days, she’ll allow me to tear you limb from limb. I greatly look forward to the way you’ll scream.” “And one of these days, I’ll cut off your cock and feed it to you, Malachi. I have no interest in your screams,” I said,

LMFAOOOOOOO

“You are my reason for every breath. The reason every day I have spent as a prisoner has been worth it. Because it brought me to you.”

“You are always my Goddess, min asteren. I worship at your altar with every breath—every moment of my existence,”

“How dare you?” Mab seethed, her voice dropping into a low command as she squeezed my heart. “I know you had something to do with this.” I chuckled again. “I know nothing of who might have done this, but they have my eternal gratitude,” I said,

sameeeee

“I know you killed her,” the Queen of Air and Darkness said, staring down into the smiling face of my mate. “I assure you, I had nothing to do with her death, but I can’t say I’m sad someone got rid of the cunt,” Estrella said,

YASSS