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Heidi *Bookwyrm Babe, Voyeur of Covers, Caresser of Spines, Unashamed Smut Slut, the Always Sleepy Wyrm of the Stacks, and Drinker of Tea and Wine*
Kindle Notes & Highlights
The sound was simple but held a storybook of meaning. It was laced with despair, loss, and anger.
“Most things in this world are obtainable, my sweets,” said Achak, turning to place a hand against the onyx wall beside them, Larkyra perched on his hip. “And those that aren’t . . . need only to be found through a door that will take you to another.”
If I could just be free to feel! To laugh and scream and yell and call out a name, without the fear of her magic being laced into her words.
He smiled at her jab, and for a moment a street urchin and a gentleman walked side by side with shared expressions.
“Life favors no one,”
“One may be beautiful,” she began, “rich, poor, young, blessed with magic or not, a sinner or virtuous, and the gift of life is still given to us all, just as death comes for us all.”
“That no one is worthier of being given life than any other,” said Larkyra eventually. “Not even the generous over the horrible?” asked Dolion. “Not even them.” She nodded. “You or I may feel differently, but life certainly doesn’t care enough to change. A hero may die in squalor, a villain in wealth.”
“Yes. Life is made to move in one direction—forward,” continued Larkyra. “It is our souls that act as the winds guiding its course. Life can be given to all, but only our souls decide how we want to live.”
“We all have roles to play at different times,” she went on. “Like you being the dashing lord and coming to my rescue for my first dance, despite your reservations.”
“It means I am forthright when I see no need to be otherwise, and I am a liar when the situation warrants it.”
For here Larkyra was part of the Mousai, a trio of creatures both revered and feared.
“Labels are meaningless, let alone those that play second tier to a first. To be a relation, you merely need to relate to another,”
When enough of something is lost in a society’s collective memory, the energy holding it in existence falls away, like water through a sieve, simply causing it to become No More. It’s pulled into a hole that swallows any realm, place, or thing that has been forgotten.”
“If you stay steady, your power will too. Steady head, steady heart.”
And this is how a seed of trust blooms,
Oh, the magic I could show you, thought Larkyra.
I will stop your nightmares, she vowed. For I will be the final storm to rock this keep.
You would judge me on my appearance alone? If so, it sounds like you’ve learned nothing from our time together or from living in Aadilor. Unlike the one dangling from your neck, not all masks are so obvious.”
Not all masks are so obvious.
“And I want, no, need you to understand,” she went on in earnest, “that you are not at fault for any of it.”
“Taking away scars won’t change how they got there,” he said. “Nor will it stop them from returning.”
“My talents lie in many different areas, my lord, besides healing wounds and singing creatures into a tizzy.”
“Let me ease your burden, my songbird.” Her father’s voice swam around her.
“The road to anything truly worth having is often steep, but think of the view when you get there.”
Mine, his powers seemed to vibrate. All this is mine, and soon you will be too.
“But you are honorable, and that is its own form of perfection.”
You were the first beautiful thing I saw this morning. I wish you to be the last I gaze upon each night.
How am I to go on after I watched you die?
“I’ll leave the curiosity to you, my love, for you have more than enough to get the both of us into trouble.”
She was now like her magic: present and powerful and deliciously alive.
