Shield of Sparrows (Shield of Sparrows, #1)

by Devney Perry

Mostly, I think the red reminded her too much of my mother.

“Not her.” Margot blinked. “Excuse me?” “Her.” The Guardian’s eyes flicked in my direction, and the whole room followed his gaze. To me. “Prince Zavier will marry her,” he declared. “Tonight. As the bride prize for killing your marroweels.”

She. Her. Me.

Me, telling people my pronouns

How much had Father paid him to leave Roslo? Certainly not a chest of gold. My value was going up. Good for me.

She clasped her hands behind her back, shoulders pinned, looking more like one of the guards than a princess.

If I didn’t know about her, then she probably hadn’t been a bad queen.

A King cannot kill his Sparrow, and a Sparrow cannot kill her King, either directly or indirectly, without death befalling them both.

It was a list three hundred years in the making. And soon, it would include mine. “What happens when there’s no more room on this page? Will you move signatures to the back?”

Poison was too good for the Guardian. Too easy. I was going to kill that man with my own two hands.

Was my crown really that scary?

“If you’re going to cry, don’t,” she said, like she could read my mind. “You’re ugly when you cry.”

It was as foreign as it was welcome, like a raindrop to a dying plant.

Were they afraid that if it wasn’t etched into the bed’s headboard, someone would forget where they were sleeping?

“Turans are loyal to Turans.” There was a warning in his tone.

I’d been staring at myself in the mirror for the last five minutes, hoping to find fault with these clothes. But damn it. I liked these pants.

Sometimes my own thoughts sounded a lot like Margot’s voice.

“Thank you for saving my life.” Someday, if I had the chance, I’d repay that favor by taking his.

But what if I was tired of being kept? What if I didn’t want to rely on a man to be my rescuer?

She's going to introduce this world to feminism

“You’ll drop it on your toe.” “I’m fine.” Gods. I was going to drop this sword on my toe.

The Guardian’s smile was wolfish. Menacing. And not attractive, not in the slightest.

Riigggghhhhtt

A decent spy would find a horse and follow. But me? Not a decent spy.

“Thanks,” I deadpanned. “And I was certain I wouldn’t earn any compliments today.” “Praise is for the bedroom, Cross. Not the training ring.”

She wasn’t even here, yet I was still lagging behind my sister.

Why hadn’t it bothered me before?

I guess if I fell to my death, at least I’d get to skip that awkward sex.

Why was it that every time I brought up Allesaria, the mood would change?

I missed hugs. I missed forcing them on Mae.

“You’re distracted today,” she said with a frown as we took a water break. “No, I’m not.” I was definitely distracted.

“Running.” Eww. “Why?”

I like to believe that Creed only left me because he knew Halston would be there to fill his place.”

I really was an awful liar, even to myself.

“I do not want her involved in court life,” he said. Fair. As a woman who’d been married off without her choice and forced to sign a magical treaty, I definitely couldn’t recommend princess.

It was almost as if the city was a myth. A legend. What if Allesaria didn’t exist?

What would I do if my life was my own?

Who would I become if I wasn’t at the mercy of men?

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe the door to your cage has always been unlocked, Sparrow? And all you had to do was push it open?”

I wasn’t used to testing doors. I’d learned a long time ago that they were always locked.

“I hate you,” I seethed. “Yes, you do. Don’t forget.”

“I don’t feel strong,” I said on a breath. “Yet you are.”

“You’re a pain in my ass, Cross.” That meant yes. My smile was instant.

“That’s a monster.” “Does it have to be?”

“Death isn’t the only mercy.”

So we stared at each other, a dying monster in my arms, and I realized that he was asking for the same mercy.

“Let me sleep.” I buried my face in a pillow. Rawr.

LMAOOOO

I’m no queen.” “Yet here you are, helping to save our people.”

“Death? Over a map?” Well, fuck.

I do not need a crown. And I have made peace with my destiny. But before I step into my grave, my choice is you.”

“In those books, I found the adventures I’d been denied.

“It’s a shock you even have blood in your veins for all the godsdamn blood oaths you’ve sworn.

Like he wanted to say something, but whatever it was, we didn’t speak the same language.