The Lost Sisters (The Folk of the Air, #1.5)

by Holly Black

“We—the Folk—don’t love like you do,” Locke said. “Perhaps you shouldn’t trust me with you...

You know what fascinates me about you? You’re a hungry person sitting in front of a banquet, refusing to eat.”

“Aren’t you ever careless?”

“Always, with you.”

“To show you what you would not otherwise believe,”

“Envy. Fear. Anger. Jealousy. They’re all spices.”

“What is bread without salt? Desire can grow ...

“Not every lover can appreciate such spices. But I think you can.”

“I can show you a version of yourself, Taryn. One you’ve never imagined. It’s terrible to be a girl trapped in a story. But you can be more than that. You can be the teller. You can shape the story. You can make all of Faerie love you.”

“Put aside your mortal ways and your mortal qualms.”

Once there was a girl named Taryn and she was beloved of a boy named Locke. They were the companions of the youngest prince of Elfhame and his friends, the talented Valerian and the beautiful Nicasia of the Undersea. When they arrived at revels, courtiers turned their heads to see the magnificent cut of their gowns, to see the cunning cut of their jackets. And everyone who saw them adored them—especially Taryn, who was the best and most beloved of them all.

a belief that winning was more important than surviving.

“He’s a prince of Faerie,”

“And Jude—well, let’s watch and see what she is.”

“...

“Make it pretty. Flowery. Wor...

“Why are you looking at Jude like that?”

“I can’t help it,”

“I’m drawn to t...

liked. And oh, I wanted to sulk and feel sorry for myself and cry. I hated the way he looked at you. I wanted to eat all the clotted cream and jam in Madoc’s kitchen.

“The first thing I noticed about her was that she had a smear of blue ink on her nose,” Vivi said. “The second thing I noticed were her eyes, the color of darkest amber. When she spoke, I was afraid she was talking to someone else.”

“What did she say?”

“‘I want to dra...

“Love is greedy,”

love was also transforming. I knew that from fairy tales. It could turn you back from a cat or a frog or a beast. Probably it could turn you into those things, too.

“Sometimes it’s easier to be mad at the people close to us,”

“than to be mad at the people who deserve it.”

“You came here,”

I suppose that’s one good thing about being obedient and faithful and good. People think you will never surprise them.

“I think I understand now. What you meant when you said I had to give up my mortal qualms. And I am willing to do t...

“I hope that you love me.”

“And I will try to live as the Folk do. But you ought to marry me even if neither of those things were true, because otherwise I might ruin your fun.”

“My fun?”

“Whatever game you are playing with Nicasia and Cardan,” I said. “And with me. Tell Madoc we’re to be wed and tell Jude about your real intentions or...

with their inclination to violence, my family would need a lot less provocation to turn on Locke. As Edir’s song drifted through the air, I realized that Locke might teach me lessons, but he wasn’t going to like what I did once I learned them.

“Not a marriage of a year and a day, either,”

“I want you to love me until you die.”

“Don’t you mean until you die? Because yo...

“You’re going to live forever. If you love me, I will become a part of your story....

“We will marry,”

“On three conditions. The first is that you will tell no one about us until the coronation of Prince Dain.”

“And during that time, you must not renounce me, no matter...

I should have heard this as the warning that it was. Instead, I was only glad that two of his conditions s...

“Only this,”

“Remember, we don’t love the way that you do.”

Jealousy wasn’t a spice to me then. It was the whole meal and I was gagging it down.