To Snap a Silver Stem (Crystal Bloom, #2)

by Sarah A. Parker

“Everything is nothing if you’re in pieces,

Light will bloom from sky and soil, Skin tarnished by the brand of death …

decimated by the blow of Maars’s chisel when he carved those words to stone. When he singled us out as the bearer of a single shadow seed that would call upon the end of the world.

I toast the stars for being cunts,

He shakes his head, wearing a guillotine stare that suggests I’m trudging a line thinner than the pinch of his lips.

Get the job done.

I cradle the spark in my chest that ignites whenever I’ve stumbled upon something interesting.

“But by all means, Milaje. You wave that white flag, and I’ll choke the life out of the consequences in the blink of an eye.”

Promising yourself to another shouldn’t mean you lose yourself in the process.

“I told you I won’t let you fall, and I’ve drawn that line in the stone,”