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A rich man paranoid enough to forgo sentries would be a poor man very quickly if he didn’t employ a little magic to guard his wealth.
but with wealth comes power—the power to have thieves like me executed if we’re caught.
You can’t trade oxygen for courage.
My sister says I’m like a cat because of the way I’ve always jumped from trees and roofs without getting hurt. I think of myself more like a shadow, unnoticed and more useful than people bother to notice.
Personally, I don’t hope. Not ever. Hope is addictive, and you start relying on it. In a world this cruel, I won’t be caught needing a crutch.
“I don’t believe in fate, Bakken. All I care about is my sister.” “Ah yes, and the king knows that.”
“It’s . . . the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” “Then it suits you.”
“If you wanted to pose as one of Arya’s handmaids, you should’ve at least bothered to learn what colors she dresses them in.” I can only interpret the shaking of his chest as a silent chuckle. “Or to know that she’d never take on a handmaiden more beautiful than she is.”
“The cruel king waits for the day the princess of shadows will come to his castle.” I’d forgotten this tale—one our mother told us only once, the night before she left for Faerie. “The false king knew she could command the shadows, but he didn’t know that her big heart and her endless love would cost him his throne.”
“You’re only powerless if you believe you are.”
Sebastian? “You shouldn’t have come looking for me. What about your apprenticeship?” He studies my face, tracing the edge of my jaw with his thumb. “Nothing matters as much as you.”
His smile is like sunlight on my icy heart.
“My mother loves day lilies. When I’d leave you to go home, my best friend would mock me for staring at them. He knew they reminded me of your hair, but in truth they don’t compare.”
It’s as if my love of coffee before was only about its potential and I’m finally tasting it as it should be.
we stan coffee
“Next time she dies, it has to be during a bonding ceremony. Otherwise, she’ll never be queen.”
“To power,” he says. I arch a brow, and he pauses with the glass halfway to his lips. “No?” “In my world, power means the ability to cheat someone out of their life, their choices, and their free will.”
“But I would have married Sebastian, the mage’s apprentice, in a heartbeat.” He hangs his head. “You can’t have one without the other, Brie.” “Ah,” I say softly. “But the prince is growing on me.” When he turns, the hope in his eyes cuts me deep, and I don’t know what I hate more: that I’m manipulating him or that what I said is true.
“You came,” Sebastian says softly behind me. Tensing, I turn to him, all too aware of the hurt I caused him earlier. “I can go back to my rooms if you want.” “I’m pretty sure my problem lies in the fact that I don’t want that at all.”
“You were curled in the corner of the bed, completely absorbed in that book, as if it didn’t matter that you lived this brutal existence and had only a tiny room to call your own. It didn’t matter that you had to work so hard for everything. When you were reading, you were somewhere else. You were someone else.”
Library pixies that live among books and sing. I wonder if I ever could have hated faeries if I’d known such a thing existed.
“Curses are made of secrets and sacrifice. We will suffer as long as she pays the price.”
“Easy, Princess, focus on the magic. When we’re out of here, you can go back to imagining all the ways you want my hands on you.”
When Finn stands, his gaze locks on the hand I pulled away from him. “Abriella, every star in that sky shines for you.” It’s not until the door swings closed behind him that I realize he called me by my given name.
“I can trust you, right, Brie?” You can never trust a thief you’ve welcomed into your home. “Of course.” The lie is bitter on my tongue. His shoulders relax. “I do, you know. For better or worse, I do.”
“Can’t you do the female thing?” I arch a brow. “The female thing?” He waves a hand. “You know, where you say the nice things and make her feel better even though she’s heartbroken and love’s a bitch?” “Oh, I . . . Why’s that a female thing?” He grunts. “You think I’m a good candidate for that job? I can’t even tell someone to have a good day without sounding like I secretly wish they’d die.”
“My heart is in your hands, Abriella,” he says, a breath before our lips meet.
“Everyone wants something from me, but nobody wants me.
side. But be careful that you don’t rely too much on their kind. If they discover your weaknesses, they’ll take and take until you find you’ve given everything.”
“That no matter how hopeless I feel, there’s always a little more hope inside me. That no matter how faithless I think I am, there is always something to believe in.”
“May you always have a star to wish on, Abriella, and a reason to believe.”
I am not a pretty thing to be manipulated. I am darkness, and the power rushing through my veins is stronger than ever.
