Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer, #2)

by Laini Taylor

elilith (el·LIL·lith) noun Tattoos given to the girls of Weep, around their navels, when they become women. Archaic; from the roots eles (self) + lilithai (destiny), signifying the time when a woman takes possession of her destiny, and determines the path of her own life.

If they had been one girl instead of two it would have died out long ago, like a candle flame with just one hand to cup it. But there were two of them, and between them they kept it alive, saw it mirrored in each other and borrowed faith back and forth, never alone and never defeated.

It was fear, of course, though Minya did not know it. She believed it was rage, only and always rage, but that was the costume it wore, because fear was weakness, and she had vowed to never again be weak.

“There’s the kind of guest who’s honored to be invited, and the kind who believes he’s bestowing honor by accepting.”

Many a choice is made in this way: by pretending it makes itself. And many a fate is decided by those who cannot decide.

“I was wondering when I’d get a break from the woman I love, who is the first and only person I’ve ever loved, and who I would happily sit beside under literally any circumstances forever.”

There was a signal beacon on the Cusp and another atop the garrison in Weep. When one flared alight, the other was lit in immediate response. That was what it was like in Eril-Fane’s chest when he saw Sarai’s hope. His own flared in answer. It hurt. It swelled inside him. It was the same species of hope as hers: fragile, and sullied by shame and fear. Their shames were different, but their fear was the same: of seeing rejection in the other’s eyes.

There comes a certain point with a hope or a dream, when you either give it up or give up everything else. And if you choose the dream, if you keep on going, then you can never quit, because it’s all you are.

We might be at odds, hate each other, and desire each other’s destruction, but in our despair, we are lost in the same darkness, breathing the same air as we choke on our grief.

torvagataï (tor·VAH·guh·tai) noun When an extraordinary feat is accomplished, after time has already run out.

Amezrou (AH·may·zroo) noun When something deeply precious, long lost and despaired of, is found and restored, against all expectation.

It wasn’t even an alternate version of his life. He hadn’t gone back in time and done everything differently to get to this place. It turned out that sometimes it’s enough to start doing things differently now.

“Wishes don’t just come true. They’re only the target you paint around what you want. You still have to hit the bull’s-eye yourself.”