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It is a waste to educate the mewling worm, but at least we can include Lada, who has a brain worth shaping. Pity she’s a girl.
“This is Wallachia, and I am the daughter of Wallachia. Our father is the prince of Wallachia. This is my country.”
Normally when something did not go her way, she became a torrent of rage, a sweeping storm that flew in and overwhelmed everything, working itself out as quickly as it had descended.
The buildings were pale white stone, the roofs red. Streets lined with spring-green trees weaved through it all, leading to a building with a spire so high that Radu was surprised it did not scratch the blue of the sky.
A dragon did not crawl on its belly in front of its enemies, begging for their help. A dragon did not vow to rid the world of infidels, and then invite them into its home. A dragon did not flee its land in the middle of the night like a criminal. A dragon burned everything around herself until it was purified in ash.
here. If you enter the harem building, you are technically the property of the sultan!
“On our wedding night,” she said, “I will cut out your tongue and swallow it. Then both tongues that spoke our marriage vows will belong to me, and I will be wed only to myself. You will most likely choke to death on your own blood, which will be unfortunate, but I will be both husband and wife and therefore not a widow to be pitied.”
Religion was a means to an end. She had seen it wielded as a weapon. If she needed to use it, she would, but she would never allow herself to be used by it.
And then everything else was swallowed by the enormity of the sky above her. The dark curve of the atmosphere was littered with light, stars spilling across her vision, overwhelming and beautiful.
“What would you sacrifice for power?
“For power, Halil Pasha would kill Mehmed. For power, the Janissaries would abandon their duty to the throne. Everyone is willing to sacrifice Mehmed. We must figure out how to do it first.
“Shut up and listen to me! Something must be sacrificed. That something is Mehmed. We sacrifice Mehmed’s throne now, so that he lives to take it later.
RADU LOVED DANCING. The beat, the music, feeling it from his head to his toes as he twirled around the room in perfect synchronization with the other dancers.
“You are the only real thing in my life.”
Lazar knelt in front of Radu, holding a sheaf of papers so that only the
Wallachia.”
in between her prsvious love for wallachia gets a little losft
“I tell you this because . . . because you are the heir to the throne.
Her spine was steel. Her heart was armor. Her eyes were fire.
“Marry me, Lada. It is the perfect solution.”
Fire burned in her heart, and her wounded soul spread out, casting a shadow like wings across her country.
“Lada Dracul. I am no longer the daughter of the dragon.” She lifted her chin, sights set on the horizon. “I am the dragon.”
While the book is based on actual historical figures, I have taken massive liberties, filling in gaps, creating characters and events, shifting time lines, and most particularly, changing Vlad the Impaler to Lada the Impaler.
