Of Darkness and Light (The Bound and the Broken, #2)

by Ryan Cahill

‘we honour the dead not by how we mourn their death, but by how we live on despite it.’”

The Soulblade was the weapon of the knighthood, gifted by the warrior god himself. Some mages or Draleid who were powerful enough could imitate it. They called them níthrals in the Old Tongue. But whatever they chose to call them, they did not understand the power of a true Soulblade, wrought from the soul of Achyron himself.

Kallinvar’s Sigil coursed through his body as he called on his Soulblade. A white-hot sensation burned in his chest, where the Sigil had fused with him all those years ago, strands of pulsing green light rushing from either side of his hand. The strands wrapped and weaved around each other, melding together to form something greater.

Kallinvar didn’t have to look to know that his fingers grasped the glowing green handle of his Soulblade. The piercing light had dissipated, and in its place was a low, pulsing glow. Kallinvar’s Soulblade took the shape of a double-edged greatsword. It was as solid as if the green pulsing light had been cut from steel, though unlike steel, a Soulblade could draw blood from a Fade, and it could rip the dark creature’s soul from the world of the living.

Lyrin’s shoulders sagged, and he let out a resigned sigh. Let’s teac...

“Pain is the path to strength,”

The duty of the strong is to protect the weak.

“There are demons within us all that we must face. They only ever surface when we are at our lowest because they are not strong enough to challenge us at our highest.

“In Drifaien, it is considered seven years bad sex if you close your eyes while drinking whiskey,” Alwen said with a matter-of-fact look on his face as he pushed two of the wooden cups into the dwarves’ hands. “Ten years if you choke on it.”

That was all until he found Naia. Finding Naia was what made Aeson understand there were some people in the world who would walk into your life and just demand your love. Simply by existing, they changed everything.

Books are not a complete history. They are only the history people chose to record.”

Kallinvar shrugged. “I argued with you to test your conviction in the same way you might repeatedly heat a blade and temper it to bring out its true strength.

“There is not a soul in this world who does not feel the push and pull of pride. Damage it, and you can make an enemy for life. Keep it intact, and you may find allies in the strangest of places.”

“We did, and clan Fenryr thanks you, Silver Fang. Asius sent me to tell you that we have found the son of the Chainbreaker. Though our people weep for the death of the Chainbreaker himself. How did he die?”

“There are no such things as heroes, boy. A hero in one person’s eyes is a villain in another’s.”

“The sun will set, and it will rise again, and it will do so the next day and the next. The gods are in charge of such things, but it is by our own will that we pick ourselves up when we fall.”