The Shadow of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy, #1)

by James Islington

All that I wanted, I received All that I dreamed, I achieved All that I feared, I conquered All that I hated, I destroyed All that I loved, I saved And so I lay down my head, weary with despair For all that I needed, I lost.

“How are you holding up?” Davian asked Caeden in a low voice as they were pushed together by the press of bodies. Caeden gave him a nervous smile. “I’ll be glad to get indoors.”

Me fr

“They kill you?” said Davian in astonishment. “We like to think of it as aggressive evangelism,” replied Nihim glibly.

It's giving "I like to think of it as aggressive negotiations"

“Hello, Cousin,” she said darkly.

Shoooooot

Taeris smiled. “Nihim Sethi, meet Aelric Shainwiere, the finest swordsman to ever deliberately lose the Song of Swords.”

Every man who holds a sword in his hand, holds murder in his heart.’”

“Everyone has a darker nature, Caeden. Everyone. Good men fear it, and evil men embrace it. Good men are still tempted to do the wrong thing, but they resist those urges.

“You can put your trust in something that’s obvious, that’s measurable or predictable—but that’s not faith. Nor is believing in something that gives you no pause for doubt, no reason or desire to question. Faith is something more than that. By definition, it cannot have proof as its foundation.”

“Because it strikes me that a man needs to know what he believes before he can really know who he is.”

“We each have our temptations, Tal’kamar. We each have our own battles that must be fought.” He paused. “But you must fight them, my friend. You cannot hide from them. Otherwise you will never be more than you are.”

“The future may be immutable, but it’s not because our choices do not change anything. It’s that they already have changed things. The decisions you make tomorrow are the same as those you made yesterday—still your choices and still with consequences, but unalterable. The only difference is your knowledge of the decisions you made yesterday.”

“Such is the way of weak men,” he murmured. “Daring to believe only in what can be seen, touched, and measured.”

“Your body is used to drawing on anything it can to survive; I can only assume that’s why you’re able to take so much. But if you drained a human being like that…well, Essence is their life force. Remove it completely, and I think you can guess the consequences.”

Davian's ability makes it very easy to accidentally drain someone's life, while the very thing he is most averse to is killing. Genius.

“I have something I need you to remember. A message from me,” he said. “That it was worth it. It changed me. And…I am so very sorry.”

He consciously reached out and drew in a little more, grinning at the sudden flush of energy. He felt good. Perhaps better than he ever had in his entire life.

Imagine bro accidentally kills the sun

“But what care has the king if he commands you to do this? Should he not love you as a subject, seek to keep you from harm if there is a better way? True—if you obey, then your king will have succeeded, and you will have died with honor.”

James you're giving me a headache mannn

Davian’s heart pounded as he explained. Whatever else happened, whether he was an enemy or just a pawn in all that was happening, Caeden needed to be kept far, far away from that box.

GENIUS JAMES

“You have lived for over four thousand years, and done so much evil and so much good. You are a legend here amongst the Lyth, despised and beloved, famous and infamous both. You are Tal’kamar,”

“And yet you have agreed to it.” Garadis’s blue eyes looked at Caeden greedily. “You have a year and a day. Should the pact be broken, the binding will compel you to return to us. Licanius will become the property of the Lyth, to do with as we see fit. And once she is truly at our command, we will see fit to use her for that which she was designed.”

What in the sir gawain and the green knight

Caeden just smiled sadly back at Davian.

GUT WRENCHING JAMES WHYYYY