Rule of Wolves (King of Scars, #2)

by Leigh Bardugo

She’d tied back her black hair with a dark blue ribbon. It was eminently practical, but it had the unfortunate effect of making him want to untie it.

But some part of him, maybe the privateer, maybe the demon, maybe the prince who had clawed his way to the throne, was itching for a fight.

Schenck’s eyes widened. “Are you threatening a delegate of the Kerch government?” “I only threaten gossipmongers and cowards.”

All Saints, how did he meet with these spineless, self-satisfied toads without committing murder once a day?

But the idea had come from the source of jurda, Novyi Zem, and a young boy who had grown up on a farm there. He’d told Kuwei that during the harvest, mothers would put balm from the stalks of the jurda plant on babies’ lips and eyelids to prevent the pollen from affecting them.

On second thought, probably best Kaz wasn’t here.

for his head, to turn up the lanterns so that the Healer had better light—Nikolai would open his eyes and mutter, “Where is my general?” “I’m here,” she repeated, again and again.

Tell me it’s more than war and worry that makes you speak those words. Tell me what they would mean if you weren’t a king and I weren’t a soldier. But she didn’t want to hear any of that, not really. Sweet words and grand declarations were for other people, other lives. She brushed the hair back from his face, placed a kiss on his forehead. “I would stay forever if I could,” she whispered. He wouldn’t remember anyway.

Grief and love were one and the same. Grief was the shadow love left when it was gone.

“Don’t pretend to shrug this off. You’ve barely looked at me since I returned.” Because I am greedy for the sight of you. Because the prospect of facing this war, this loss, without you fills me with fear. Because I find I don’t want to fight for a future if I can’t find a way to make a future with you.

“I’m looking at you now, Zoya.”

He had been strong for his country, his soldiers, his friends. It meant something different to be strong for her.

“I’m not supposed to let you in,” Jesper said. Brekker seemed unperturbed. “Why not?” “Because every time I do, you ask me to break the law.” A voice from behind Jesper said, “The problem isn’t that he asks, it’s that you always say yes.”

one. “It’s for Inej.” Wylan set down the dirty glasses. “Why didn’t you say so? What do you need?”

“Because unlike Kaz, I have a conscience.” “I have a conscience,” said Kaz. “It just knows when to keep its mouth shut.” Jesper snorted. “If you have a conscience, it’s gagged and tied to a chair somewhere.”

“I murdered an unarmed man.”

Nope. My heart dropped at this exact sentance

“I would choose you.”

“As your general?”

“As my queen.”

“I would make you my queen because I want you. I want you all the time.”

AHHHHHHHHHH

“And all I would ask in return is that you wear this damnable ribbon in your hair on our wedding day.”

She’d been too afraid to say yes to him, to show him the truth of her longing, to admit that from the first time she’d seen him, she’d known he was the hero of all her aunt’s stories, the boy with the golden spirit full of light and hope.

I forgive you for these scars.” He couldn’t hide his surprise, and she laughed. “You didn’t expect that, did you? I don’t regret them. I found my way to who I was meant to be through the pain I endured. I’m stronger for it.”

“Then I will love her from my grave.”

“The Fold … the Fold is blooming.” “Tell us,” said Genya. “Green grasses. An orchard in blossom. Quince trees. Their boughs are full of white flowers. They look like sea-foam.”

But on the day she’d moved in, she’d found a little wire ship on her desk, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. From its mast flew a tiny flag emblazoned with two stars.

None of this had been fated; none of it foretold. There had been no prophecies of a demon king or a dragon queen, a one-eyed Tailor, Heartrender twins. They were just the people who had shown up and managed to survive. But maybe that was the trick of it: to survive, to dare to stay alive, to forge your own hope when all hope had run out.

designs for an extraordinary structure Nikolai had designed to protect her garden.

“Get a message to the Crow Club,” she said. “Tell Kaz Brekker the queen of Ravka has a job for him.”