Brimstone (Fae & Alchemy, #2)

by Callie Hart

There was safety to be found in a pack. But a wolf could survive alone, too.

He’d left the safety of Cahlish. For her. He’d climbed the mountain. For her. He’d snuck through Irrín and crossed the river. For her.

Onyx<3

“Don’t you know? There isn’t much I wouldn’t sacrifice to make you happy, Osha.

You are my mate. I’m in love with you.

“I love you, Fisher.” It was the first time I’d said it. “I love you, and nothing else matters beyond that. Wherever you are, I’ll beg the gods and all the fates to let me be there, too,” I whispered.

When I close my eyes, you are all I fucking see, Saeris Fane. I could be dead in the ground five thousand years and the frosts could have taken my bones, and still no other male will ever have loved another female the way that I love you.”

Now enough about swords. Come here. If you can bear the fact that our bodies aren’t touching for one more second, then you’re a better person than me, Saeris Fane,” he whispered.

My prince of shadows.

“I’d spend the fortunes of the universe to protect you. I’d drain the seas dry. Fell every tree. I would sacrifice the sun from the fucking sky and surrender the stars, too, if I could. But those things aren’t mine to give. All I have is my life. It isn’t much, but I’d spend it and consider the price small if it meant keeping you safe.”

Onyx nudged the little spiked pine cone, butting it with his nose again, until it rolled and hit the toe of my boot. It was for me. A gift.

“You’re a wildfire, Saeris Fane. There’s no controlling you.”

Whenever you need me to catch you, I am here, ready and willing.

You can be many things. You can wear your leathers and fight every day of the year. I would never ask you not to. But sometimes, if you wanted to . . . you’re allowed to soften, Saeris. You’re allowed to stop baring your teeth at the world and take a breath. Because I’ve got you.”

“How can I consign myself to another endless dark when I’ve been given back the light?”

A heart ruled by hatred and fear could not experience miracles. You had to know love, joy, and trust for that,

“It feels like trying to make sand flow backward in an hourglass. It feels like being surrounded by people and being the only one who can’t find the air in the room. It’s drowning on dry land. It’s the hollow ache of something that you know, from that moment on, will always be missing. It is a pain so acute and incurable that poets, pirates, and politicians alike die from it. And it never ends.”