Devious Lies (Cruel Crown, #1)

by Parker S. Huntington

Fate whispers to the warrior, “You cannot withstand the storm,” and the warrior whispers back, “I am the storm.” UNKNOWN

People assume strength is loud. In reality, strength is silent. It is resilience, the will to never surrender your dignity.

And sometimes, the only person who knows strength exists inside you is you.

Storms will always rage. Don’t run from them. Face them. Some things in life can only be learned in a storm.”

What I really wanted to say was—Forgiving others is a myth. The only prisoner freed when you forgive someone is you.

This is why happiness isn’t permanent, I thought. Life introduces you to fantasies, then makes you feel like you can’t have them. You spend the rest of your life seeking that fantasy. When you realize it grew beneath your feet, it’s too late.

Getting to know someone is like gaining weight. Scattered bits acquired here and there. Next thing you know, you’re twenty pounds heavier, wondering where the hell all of it came from.

Robert Kiyosaki quote? Sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn.

Love is the most expensive thing you’ll ever own. You pay for it with grief, tears, and a

piece of your soul, but in return, you receive happiness, memories, and life.”

“Perfection is unattainable. It’s stained by the suffering required to chase it. Perfect is something you think with your

head. Lagom is something you feel with your heart.”

Shut up, dude. Even the moon is jealous of the stars. And you, Starless Sky, have no stars. I bet that makes you jealous of everyone.

“Life is a Sisyphean task. You put out one fire, and another one starts. It’s easier to accept it burns.”

I couldn’t think past his touch, but I tried. “And when there’s no place untouched by the fire?”

“That’s a horrible way to live.” “Newsflash, Little Tiger, it’s life. There’s death, and betrayal, and revenge, and guilt everywhere you turn. It’s healthier to live it, breathe it, and participate in it than to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“And when you’re burnt everywhere?” “Don’t succumb to the fire. Be the bigger flame.” His fingers dipped below my shirt, skimming the sensitive skin.

“The existence of a word proves that someone in the history of humanity felt the same way I did and gave it a name. It means we’re not alone. If there’s a word for what we’re feeling, we’re never alone.”

Love exists, and it’s crueler than lust. I knew if I loved someone, I wouldn’t lie to them.

People measure love by how much someone receives, but I measure it by how much someone gives.

“People hold back, say what they don’t mean, and hide everything inside.”

“You don’t hate me.” She flung her arms wide as if she’d just made the most profound statement in the world. “You hide behind this rough exterior, because I’ve found my way beneath your skin, and it scares you. You don’t like how I make you feel, because I actually make you feel.”

I wanted to crack open her mind like a book and read it, but I was fucked if it became my favorite book to read.

When I loved a book, I didn’t read it once. I read it over and over again—until the pages fell off, until I could anticipate the words before I read them, until they sunk into me and melted inside my bones in a way that never

“I’m not wasted. I’m happy. And I’m finally realizing that two souls don’t just find each other by accident.” She leaned forward and bit my lip, harder than any sane woman would. “You taste like sin, Nash. So delicious. So wrong. So right.”

“You know he’d want you happy, right? Life is fucked up. It’s a roller coaster ride without an exit, and you’re smushed into the same tiny cart with eight billion other people. You can either push everyone off, throw up until you’re miserable, or enjoy the ride. Let’s enjoy the fucking ride, Nash.”

“You want me to ask you what you want for the day you, yourself, claim is meaningless?” “I called birthdays a lie, said people aren’t special, and told you days of birth shouldn’t be celebrated, but I never said they’re meaningless.”

“Give me a word, Emery.” “Redamancy.”

“What does it mean?” “The act of loving the one who loves you. A love returned in full.”

She believed in words, and magic, and storms. In fighting back, going down hard, never giving up. In blind loyalty, jumping first, dealing with consequences later. She was awful. She infuriated me. She drove me fucking crazy. And, I realized, I love her. “Ask me the question, Tiger.”

Her eyes fluttered open, not staring at me but into me. “Is this just lust?” “It’s everything.”

“A liar once told me, life is a Sisyphean task. You put out one fire, and another one starts. It’s easier to accept it burns. We live in a world consumed by fire, but at least it’s the truth. You’re not lured to sleep

with a false blanket of security, telling yourself you exist in a part untouched by the flames. There’s death, and betrayal, and revenge, and guilt everywhere you turn. It’s healthier to live it, breathe it, and participate in it than to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“Do you remember what you said when I asked what happens after you’re burnt everywhere?”

“Don’t succumb to the fire. Be the bigger flame.”

“Why is it that two people never realize how much they love each other until one of them says goodbye?”

“Hiraeth is a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was. It is the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past. I’ve always thought of it as the saddest entry in the dictionary.”

“When you lied to me, Nash, you became like every other person in my life. Virginia, Balthazar, and Gideon, who apparently isn’t even my dad. I hope I’m looking into things. I hope it’s bad timing⁠—”

“Timing? There is no such thing as time. Time is something people made up to give value to each breath we take, to remind us that they’re limited, that we should leap first and ask questions never.”

“Fate is a hurricane. You think you know where it’s going. You think you’re safe. And just when you think you’ve weathered the storm, its path moves directly

into yours. You, Emery Winthrop, are my hurricane. My fate. My Durga. My Tiger.”

Ya’aburnee is Arabic for you bury me. It is the hope that you will die before your one true love because you cannot bear to live without them.