Entranced (Prince of the Doomed City, #1)

by Sylvia Mercedes

I’ve learned over the years that a smile is a much more effective mask than a non-expression. Every non-expression is ultimately a blank canvas inviting unwanted feelings to flash into momentary visibility. But if you’re wearing a smile, it’s easier to hide that which you would prefer to remain secret.

The clop of morleth hooves beats a jarring rhythm in my skull, and I allow it to carry me into a mindless lull where I don’t have to think anymore. I barely even feel. I simply exist. Exist a little longer until I reach the far side of this watery expanse.

side. “Not one to betray emotion unnecessarily, are you? Some think such reticence a virtue, call it restraint and forbearance and the like. Me? I call it disaster waiting to happen. I know your kind—all timidity and self-discipline up until the last moment. Up until the explosion. By which time, it’s too late for the rest of us.”

“Don’t look so baffled, Miss Darling! You know the books themselves may be just objects; it’s what they contain that may threaten lives and worlds. The keeping and exchanging of ideas across cultures, across generations, across continents and worlds, is one of the most dangerous acts of humanity. In that respect, each one of the books before you is threatening. But I ask you again, which is the most threatening in this moment?”

“Best to begin as you mean to continue.

“I can hear you thinking another question, girl. Out with it. I’m in an answering frame of mind, and I might not be tomorrow, so you’d best ask while you can.”

“He had a darkness in him. Always did. And when he was young, it got out in the form of the Thorn Maiden. He spent the rest of his life fighting that part of himself which he had unleashed. But, as a result of that fight, the goodness in him grew stronger and stronger.” The old librarian smiles softly. “He was the best man I’ve ever known.”

“Oftentimes we love most those things of which we’re most ashamed.”