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Pure magic has no self. It simply is, a force of nature, the blood of our world, the marrow of our bones. We give it shape, but we must never give it soul. —MASTER TIEREN, head priest of the London Sanctuary
“One day you will be old and wrinkled, and I will still love you.”
hey god… it’s me again
“Dying is so mundane.”
If Lenos strained, he could hear the occasional echo of fireworks over the rattle of the crowd in the Wandering Road.
i fear those are gun shots
Not rain, he realized. Blood.
ick
“Be careful.” Tipped his forehead against hers and added, almost too low to be heard, “Please.”
luv
She’d seen so many versions of him in the past few hours. The broken boy. The grieving brother. The determined prince. This Kell was none of those and all of them, and when he kissed her, she tasted pain and fear and desperate hope. And then he was gone, a streak of pale skin against the night as he rode for the night market.
“This is my city,” he said, shaking visibly. “My home. If I can’t protect it…”
cry it out babe
“I will not lose my sons to this.” Sons.
STOP I'LL CRY
“When the Danes ruled, they may have forced your hand, but this time, you chose. You chose to set Osaron free. You chose to be his vessel. You chose to give him—” “Life isn’t made of choices,” said Holland. “It’s made of trades. Some are good, some are bad, but they all have a cost.”
LEAVE HOLLAND ALONE
“Hatred is a powerful thing,” continued Holland through gritted teeth. “Hold on to it.”
A word escaped his lips, little more than an exhale, but she recognized the sound and shape of Kell’s name, before, at last, her son woke up.
“It was just a tonic, sir,” he fumbled, “something for sleep.” “You drugged her?” “It was Tieren’s order,” said Hastra, chastised. “He said she was mad and stubborn and no use to us dead.” Hastra lowered his voice when he said this, mimicking Tieren’s tone with startling accuracy. “And what do you plan to do when she wakes back up?” Hastra shrank back. “Apologize?” Kell made an exasperated sound as Lila nuzzled—actually nuzzled—his shoulder. “I suggest,” he snapped at the young man, “you think of something better. Like an escape route.”
I think were a little too worked up
“He keeps trying to get in.” The shadow king.
NO NOT HIS SISTER
“Stay with me, Nis,” he said. “Stay with me.”
I'll cry right now, don't think I won't
Pretending not to be sad was the hardest, but looking sad made people think you were weak, and when you were already a foot too short and a measure too small, and a girl on top of that, you had to work twice as hard to convince them it wasn’t true.
“Do you truly believe that he’s a god?” Holland rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter what someone is. Only what they think they are.”
“You told me once,” said Kell, “that you were either magic’s master or its slave. So which are you now?”
“That’s what you don’t understand,” said Holland, letting the emptiness fold over him. “I have only ever been its slave.”
MY BABYYYYY
Kell fumbled for his thoughts. “We can’t evacuate the city,” he said again, turning toward the head priest. “But could we put it to sleep?”
sleeping beauty core
“Where are we going?” she asked as he pulled her up the stairs and into a bedroom. His bedroom.
HELLO?
“Hey, Nis,” he said, squeezing her hand. “Do you remember the story I used to tell you?” She shivered feverishly. “The one about the place where shadows go at night?”
oh i’ll cry
“You see”—Alucard’s fingers tightened around hers—“it hadn’t really left. Because our shadows never do. So you see, you’re never alone”—his voice cracked—“no matter where you are, or when, no matter if the sun is up, or the moon is full, or there’s nothing but stars in the sky, no matter if you have a light in hand, or none at all, you know … Anisa? Anisa, stay with me … please…”
SOBBING
Kell knew that the girl was already gone. “Nis?” said her brother again, stepping toward her. “Can you hear me?”
ughhhhh
Rhy reached toward the nearest one, and it recoiled from his touch.
when is this hoe gonna get some magic?
“Have you met the shadow king?” he boomed.
HAVE YOU MET THE MUFFIN MAN
“Oh hell,” said Lila
me this entire time
She saw the body on the floor. Oh, thought Lila dully. There she is.
no no no no no
Because caring was a thing with claws. It sank them in, and didn’t let go. Caring hurt more than a knife to the leg, more than a few broken ribs, more than anything that bled or broke and healed again. Caring didn’t break you clean. It was a bone that didn’t set, a cut that wouldn’t close.
She threw her arms around his neck, and when he spun with the weight of her, the skirts of her dress fanned like petals, the edges stained from dancing. “Hello, Hol,” she said sweetly. “Hello, Tal,” he answered.
aweee
Talya, a spot of color in a world of white. Talya, who carried the sun with her wherever she went. Talya, so fair that when she smiled, the day grew brighter.
awe!!! I love this for my bb holland
And after that, he saw her everywhere he looked.
That was when she tried to cut his heart out.
OH! I would never!!
His dark eyes landed on Kell. “Holland dies by your hand.” The words followed Kell into the hall. Holland dies by your hand.
ughhh my babies nooo
My name is Edward Archibald Tuttle, he thought, gripping the dagger, I am the third of that name, and I am not afraid.
now I understand why you go by ned... whith a name like that I would too
“Then why are you here?” “Because good people die, and bad people live, and it doesn’t seem very fair, does it, Holland?” Her face crinkled. “Of all the people you could kill, you chose someone who actually mattered to me.”
“On vis och,” he told himself. Dawn to dusk. A phrase that meant two things in his native tongue. A fresh start. A good end.
“That fucking monster,” growled the prince, now at Lila’s other side, “is playing blocks with my arenas.”
I love when rhy is a lil pouty prince
Rhy kept shaking his head. “Why?” he said sadly. “Why did he have to use the arenas?”
case and point
“Fine,” said Alucard, “I’ll need to get beyond Osaron’s sphere, and then find a ship.” “You?” said Kell. “I’m not leaving the fate of this city in your hands.” “I’m the one who found the Inheritor.” “And you’re the one who lost it.” “A trade isn’t the same thing as a—” “I’m not letting you—” Alucard leaned across the desk. “Do you even know how to sail, mas vares?” The honorific was said with serpentine sweetness. “I didn’t think so.” “How hard can it be,” snarled Kell, “if they let someone like you do it?” A glint of mischief flashed in the captain’s eyes. “I’m rather good with hard things.
...more
HAHAHAHAHAH
“Come on,” he said, holding out his hand. And this time, when he pulled her up, he seated her before him instead of behind, one arm wrapping protectively around her waist. “Don’t stab me,” he whispered in her ear,
HOT
“Stay with me.”
don't have to tell me twice
“You were only at sea for four months,” he said. “How many enemies did you make?”
I still don’t trust you, she thought. As if he could feel the weight of her gaze, Holland glanced back over his shoulder. You do not know me, his gaze seemed to say. You do not know me at all.
MY BABY!!! i’m gonna be PISSED if everyone thinks he’s still a villain at the end of this
In a world where everything rocked and swayed and fell away, this was solid ground. Safe.
And then the door burst open. Alucard stood in the doorway, soaking wet, as if he’d just been dumped in the sea, or the sea had been dumped over him. “Stop fucking with the ship.”
HAHAHAHAH
“Kell,” she moaned as his kiss deepened.
listening to this was HORRIFIC
“Your eye,” he said. “Oh,” said Lila with a smirk, “you noticed.”
HAHAHAH
Myths do not happen all at once. They do not spring forth whole into the world. They form slowly, rolled between the hands of time until their edges smooth, until the saying of the story gives enough weight to the words—to the memories—to keep them rolling on their own.
“Unlike me, my brother Col has never missed his marks.” Maxim’s blood ran cold as he spun on Isra and the other guards. “Where is the queen?”
I STG IF YOU TOUCH MY GIRL ILL CRAWL THOUGH THESE PAGES AND KILL YOU MYSELF
