A Throne From the Ashes (An Heir Comes to Rise, #3)

by C.C. Peñaranda

“Keep having…Faythe.”

I may have come from nothing, but I will rise to everything. The greatest triumph will be having you there to bear witness as I do.”

“The thing about a weapon is that it has no allegiance. Craft a lethal blade, perfect its sharpened edge, and it can kill its maker as easily as it can slay any enemy.”

“Maybe it makes me selfish, but I can’t. I can’t stay away from you. I came back sooner than I usually would from Fenher because while I fear to no end that I might be incapable of protecting you, I can’t stand the thought of your safety being in the hands of anyone else.”

As though the beat of her heart were tied to his own. Yet he didn’t fear it. Not in the slightest.

the scars that cut deepest are often those we harbor within.”

“Don’t be afraid of the past that has made you stronger.”

Those who are petty enough to spread gossip never care for the truth anyway.”

“To have Faythe: to live like death is a game, love is a prize, and danger is desire.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you kneel before me.” “I’ll get on my knees for you anytime, Zaiana. You know you need only ask.”

“I want your fealty, not your disappointing bedroom favors.” “In the bedroom, I might just yield both.” “If you were the last male on the continent, our species would cease to exist with us.”

“I don’t know what the future holds or where the path may end, but I plan to follow you down whatever perilous,

reckless, adventurous road you lead, Faythe Ashfyre.” His lips curled in tender amusement. “I vow to stand by your side. I vow to protect you with my sword and my life. And I vow to bind my fate to yours, if you will have me. I’ve lived enough years in this world to know should you leave it, so too shall my desire to stay here without you.”

“Until the end of days, Reylan Arrowood.” His smile—warm, genuine, and heartbreakingly rare—had become the light in her eternal shadow. “Maybe even longer, Faythe Ashfyre.”

“You call me feeble, but look at you,” she said vacantly, head tilting at the sphere in her palm. “So small on the inside. You use fear to distract others from seeing your own. You are nothing but a coward.” Faythe met his eyes then, and he was right to look vulnerable; to surface that fear as an unveiling of his true self before he met his end. “Do you have anything you would like to say?”

Rezar’s eyes were back to blazing. “This kingdom will burn before you claim it.” “Then it’s a shame you won’t bear witness,” Faythe said calmly, “when I sit upon a throne from the ashes.”

“It’s not the act but the intention that separates the good from the evil.”

“But I’ve come to realize tomorrow isn’t my promise to give. What I can promise…is me. Until the last tomorrow comes. I

want you to know every broken piece of me belongs to you.”

“You are my heart, Faythe Ashfyre. When you lose yourself to anger, when you are consumed by passion, when you risk yourself defending… Gods, do I love every impossible, reckless, and fierce part of you.” Faythe released a laugh mixed with a cry. Her eyes blurred, but elation kept her tears from falling.

“And I will spend the rest of my days showing you when words fail that you are everything. In this life or the next, I will always find you.”

“My last breath would be yours,” she heard his truth. “To make sure you knew…I will always find you.”

“I don’t want anything from you.” “Yet those were not your words last night, Zaiana.”

“This is reality. And we are the monsters who don’t get the happy ending even if we want it.”

“The Great General of Rhyenelle, the one they call the White Lion of the South, and the one who will be remembered in history within stories of battles and reign for millennia…is your soul-bonded mate, Faythe Ashfyre.”