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Breathless in the dirt, clammy with sweat, Eliana reached for the Prophet. What was that place? What did I see? The Prophet’s voice was breathless with relief and wonder. You saw the cruciata, they replied. And you were in the Deep.
Eliana fought a swell of impatience. How do you know all of this? I am a keeper of many stories, was the cryptic reply.
Your Highness. Zahra’s voice brimmed with relief. At last.
WHAT
“I want to look once more into the eyes of those who fear me and show them what I have become,” she said, her voice trembling as she thought of it. “I will show them they were right to fear me and that I will never again hide from the true reach of my power.”
Yes, they would reach the shore soon. They would rest. And then, she would run.
where r u going girl what r u planning
“You’re already a traitor and a criminal, Merovec,” Audric said. “You would add murder of your own aunt to that list?”
get his ass
Merovec tilted his head. A sharp grin widened his mouth. “Tell me, do you pleasure yourself while imagining her moaning in the arms of her new lover?”
OOP
Her mother had opened the Gate. And she had opened Ostia. A hole in the Deep. A door leading out from the abyss. Through it, Elysium was clear as a spotless reflection.
She smiled a little. What was Corien so fond of saying? I am infinite. Now, he was no longer the only angel who could make such grandiose claims. Now, she was strong enough to match him.
Stay with us, little one. She didn’t dare touch Eliana. Corien would feel it. Instead, she said it to herself. Just a little longer.
bro....
It’s time, she told him. Understood, he replied with a tiny shiver of joy, for even all the abuse she had dealt him had not destroyed his love for what his blood could do, for all the fearsome secrets it held.
DOTS....
Suffice it to say, there are dragons, and there’s a boy, and I love them all.
i knew this mf was gay
Audric forced a small smile. “If anyone else caught me moping under the tree where I first kissed the Kingsbane, they might try to take my crown again.”
“Maybe if I had been a mother to her,” Genoveve said, “if I had welcomed her into our family with graciousness and warmth, we would not be where we are now.”
no shit
“Sometimes it’s strange to think of them together and in love, even after all the stories I’ve read—the Lightbringer and the Blood Queen. One kind, one cruel. One good, one evil. I wonder what their daughter would have been like, if she’d ever been born. I wonder which parent she’d take after.” —Journal of Remy Ferracora, dated May 24, Year 1014 of the Third Age
this hurts
Eliana forced a wry grin. “I’m the Sun Queen. I know everything.”
Eliana turned away from him, guilt sitting hard in her throat. There was only ever supposed to be one Dread of Orline, and now the city of Elysium had given birth to another.
oh my god leave me ALONEEE
Then, out from the angel’s throat plunged a strange blade—an iridescent copper, shadows shifting across it. Blightblade, Eliana thought, shaky and reeling. Fountains of blood spurted from the angel’s neck. The blade tore free, and the body twitched, then fell hard. Empty now, nothing more than a corpse. And over it stood Simon in imperial black, his scarred face streaked with blood and grime. His expression was furious. A dark cloak lined with crimson fell to his knees, and across his torso cut a red sash like a bloody smile.
WGAT
Because now, Simon was the one drawing their ire. Simon, the Emperor’s favorite.
im so lost
Come to me, little one. The Prophet sent her a feeling too muddled to decipher. Simon knows the way. I’ll explain everything once you’re here.
oh im gonna throw a fit
She stepped back from him. That piercing blue, the full force of it like a strike to her chest. Once, it had held the heat of desire, the flint of anger. Not once until now had she seen his eyes raw with grief.
“You are the Prophet?” she whispered. The woman smiled softly. “You may call me Ludivine. I knew your parents.”
im gonna KILL SOMEONE
Ludivine’s face shifted slightly, as if gathering itself. “I cannot express how sorry I am for what you have endured. But I’m not sorry for what I have done. Regret is poison. It would kill me.”
and i wish it would
“I don’t love you,” she whispered fiercely against his skin. A moment passed. Then she felt Simon’s hand cup the back of her head, cradling her to him. His lips touched her brow. “I know,” he replied, his voice choked with sadness. “I don’t love you either.”
im gonna end it all
The air around her glimmered with power. A queen in his bed, lighting the world awake.
“We are more than our anger,” she said, her voice low. They were the words she had said in Willow, the gardens soft with rain around them, her hands warm on his scarred chest. The memory drifted sweetly, the last leaf falling before winter. “We are more than what has been done to us,” he said in reply, and felt her smile against his neck.
im gonns sob
I’m sorry, little one. I was not always as I am now. I wish you could have known me when my heart was still whole.
ludivine i hate u so much
A gunshot cracked the air. Behind her, Simon cried out.
WHAT
“This isn’t the night Ludivine spoke of,” she said. “No,” Remy agreed. In the shifting, bursting light, his eyes were glittering jewels. “This is spring, the last year of the Second Age. It’s the Battle of Âme de la Terre. The battle that ended the world.”
no fucking way
Rielle no longer held a sword. It was her arm itself that burned, a brilliant red spear of light, and as it plunged for his heart, Audric held her beloved face in his gaze and whispered, “Rielle, I love you.”
enough.
Rielle laughed, a terribly sad sound. She touched Eliana’s cheek. “Little one,” she said, “I crave their adoration. I crave their fear.”
shut the fuck up OWWWW
Eliana’s companion, the boy, burst open, and from the place where his head had been poured shining waves of black beetles.
REMY
“I may be a monster,” Rielle said, the words thick with pain, “but I am no longer yours.”
“Zahra,” Audric said warmly. “Is there something you need?”
FUCK OFFFFF
