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“Spark the flames, Ever.” “Ignite the infernos,” I answer automatically. “Ash the embers,” we both say at the same time,
“I had a craving for road pancakes,” I rasp, trying and failing to push away from him.
“She’s frustrated, reckless when cornered, savvy, and weaker than she wants any of us to know, but she’s not terrified.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant hurt. You’re hurting and you don’t want us to know.”
“I’m not scared. But not for the reasons you might think. I’m just not afraid to die.”
I’ve never been sucker punched by an elevator before, but there’s a first time for everything.
I survived Wistan only to be bested by an elevator.
“No naps just yet, Claws. I want your eyes on me,” Aeson barks. “That’s not my name, you bossy fuck,” I snap
Why couldn’t he be pretty and dumb? This would be so much easier if he was all package and zero substance. But no, it’s just my luck that the fucker is clever, adept, and annoyingly observant.
“You have a dimple,” Aeson points out, like I don’t already know. I gasp and cover the small indentation with my hand. “It’s back?” I exclaim. Aeson frowns at me, the look in his gaze perplexed. “Don’t scare it away!” I admonish. “I haven’t seen the little guy in forever.”
“Who.” Aeson takes another step. “Did.” And another. “This.” Tahir scrambles back, and several drakes shout orders for everyone to move out of the way.
“To.” Blay charges. At first, I think he’s going to tackle Aeson, but he streaks past, diving for one of the massive archways instead. A mountain-sized purple dragon erupts out of him, the beast launching itself off the outer lip of the tower.
“You.” Aeson is suddenly in front of me, waves of heat pouring off of him like morning mist off the waterfalls that flank this keep.
We stand, two enemies on a battlefield, neither willing to cede to the other, and somehow, I’ve never felt more alive than I do right now. I’ve never felt more seen.
Hot fingers stroke the scars on my neck and upper chest before dropping down to graze over the ones running down my arms. I think he’s counting them.
I offer Aeson a broken sliver of myself, wrapped in the name of the bastard who tried to shatter me beyond repair. “Wistan…Wistan Allaire.”
I know exactly what it means to hand over a name like this to a guy like the commander. The vow of reckoning is silent, but it’s there all the same.
“Are you done with your mantrum now?” I ask,
“That mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble one day,” he warns, but something in his eyes, in his tone, makes it feel more like an invitation than an admonition.
“It’s called recovering, Seeder, not sulking. Don’t you have a garden to weed or some trees to boss around?”
I can’t seem to blink or tear my eyes away from what’s been done to me. I’m covered in a fucked-up chainmail of torment, the pattern purposeful and planned. It could almost be beautiful if you didn’t know the horror of what it was, how it happened.
I’m marked by both aspects of the Tainted fuck, the calm control and the raging monster. And now I’ll never stop seeing him when I look at me…just like he wanted.
“My affinity is good for more than just fart noises and blow jobs. You should see what I can do between your—” Tove slaps the back of Chastain’s head, cutting off whatever inappropriate thing was about to slip out of his mouth.
I have found the shithead. He is my favorite
“I swear, Wind-For-Brains, it’s a good thing you’re pretty and know how to follow orders. How you’ve survived this long in life is truly a mystery,” Tove grumbles,
I love her too
A BUTTER KNIFE. I’m going into battle with a fae-damned butter knife. Two, to be exact, not that it makes me feel any better about just how fucked I am.
My sister died protecting someone she loved. It’s how she always expected to go, and she’d have no regrets. Not one. That’s more than any of us can hope for, so whatever it is you’re sorry for, don’t be.”
“I’ve got ovaries, not balls, and I guarantee they’re infinitely tougher than anything dangling between your legs.
“Is there a particular reason why you’ve armed yourself with a butter knife again?” he asks,
broken or not, I am a dragon inside, and I’m starting to see and understand what that means.
You’d think time would dull the sharp edges of grief, but it doesn’t. Somehow it stays razor sharp and ready to slice you open when you least expect it. And you will never heal, because you will never stop bleeding.
Loss is the price you pay for love. But as grief carves me open once again, I can’t decide if it’s worth it.
“Because kindness is nothing more than a pretty bow around a pretty box. Foolish people assume there’s something beautiful or valuable inside the lovely packaging. Survivors know otherwise.”
Kindness and compassion aren’t just pretty packaging, they’re the gift. Not every benevolent act hides a venomous viper in its depths.”
“It’s a constellation lily,” Aeson tells me, and I freeze and hold my breath as he draws closer. “It was my grandmother’s. The pride of her trove. I could stare at it for hours every time we’d visit her when I was young.
said that one day I would discover something infinitely more precious than this breathtaking flower. And when that day came, only then would I start to understand just how much she loved me, because seeing me admire and appreciate her beloved constellation lily brought her more joy and contentment than the flower itself ever did.”
A moth will never survive its love for fire. Ice will always bow to the sun. And I can never be Aeson Noctis’s mate, not when I’m here to become his reckoning.
Maybe I’ve been staring at the dark for too long and it’s time to look for the light.”
“As long as two mirrors have this symbol, you can use them like a spy glass, or you can communicate back and forth with them like a com, but my favorite way to use the Syphon Glass is to travel from one Port to another.”
“She doesn’t feel safe here or trust us. She’s not going to risk anyone else until that changes. Can’t say I blame her. We’d do the same thing in her shoes.”
King Noctis chuckles. “Merik was never one to mince words or pull punches. I’m glad to hear that side of him is living on through his little girl. It’ll be a treat to go toe to toe with him again, if only in spirit,”
I think she’s starting to nest though. She got very territorial earlier, and she took a mirror from the vaults for her room. She may not understand her instincts just yet, but she’s giving into them all the same.”
“I’m glad to hear she’s softening toward you,” he tells Aeson. “I know I don’t need to remind you how important it is that she accepts the claim. If she’s coming around on her own, that’s good. It means we won’t have to take more drastic measures.”
It’s clear that the king respects his sons. He speaks to them like they’re his equals, but he was also quick to step in when they needed guidance. They all work seamlessly together. A true team, and none of it was for show.
“I could never have hurt your kindred. They were my kindred too in so many ways. The crown was the last thing I wanted, but I took up the mantle rather than see The Horde destroyed from infighting and mistrust. I wasn’t going to let everything your father worked for die with him.”
“Arms the butterflies?” I ask as I join the keyed up huddle. “Yes, it’s the security measure Nixy programmed at your request,” Azo tells me. My head snaps in the direction of Nixy’s semitransparent visage. “Do the butterflies shoot lasers?” I ask excitedly.
I’m surrounded by flying, bejeweled magi-tech that starts to dive bomb and slash at the guards with razor-sharp wings.
“We leave you alone for ten minutes and come back to this,” Farrow barks with obvious disdain. “It’s the butterflies, sir,” Shaw rushes to explain
“You got your asses kicked by…butterflies,” I howl,
An amused smile replaces Julian’s scowl. “We’re all still standing, so it falls miles short of a beatdown. And if you hadn’t gotten all possessive when Lahar started torching them, we would have had everything under control in no time. I’d say it was a wing whoopin’ at best.”
