Flamefall (The Aurelian Cycle, #2)

by Rosaria Munda

“I’m going to get that muzzle off Griff Gareson’s dragon,” I tell him, “and I’m going to raze New Pythos to the ground.” Power smiles, a ragged, crooked smile that lights his face. “Damn straight,” he says.

The best parts of myself, I found with Annie.

Revenge doesn’t need to begin with a knife. It can begin with a well-delivered speech.

The only atonement I can offer for my crimes, the only thanks I can give for her mercy. Let me answer her honor with honor, where they think we have none. The true gift of freedom is to act with this civility.

Even if we were never to kiss again, even if it were never more than this, it would be enough just to hold you.

Grief feels like a forgotten friend. A friend that visits me and smothers me at night.

Let a single urn contain our ashes, My comrade-in-arms, my friend, my beloved So that not even our bones lie apart from one another When you follow me from this world to the next.

“Stop doing what it takes. Start asking yourself what’s needed.”

“I will take this city from you,” I tell the man on the dirt at my feet, “but not as a usurper nor as an avenging heir.” The sky is open, and though I still stand on the ground, I feel I’m already on a dragon’s back. “I will take it out from under you as you name me your successor from your knees because your people want it and your head. Then I will let death be a mercy to you, just as it was for my father.”