Furysong (The Aurelian Cycle, #3)

by Rosaria Munda

Right on cue, the glass of the central archway shatters. Aela perches framed by stone, her wings spread.

We live for the dramatic

It’s been so long since I had this kind of pain in my abdomen, I didn’t at first recognize it. But changing into my flamesuit, I confirm the blood on my thighs and let out what feels like my first full breath in days.

Period cramps have entered the chat

I’m going to wipe the floor with Ixion as I bleed.

Huzzah! Woman power!

Sparks flutter from her nostrils as her eyes flash.

Hell yeah she ready

Ramming through a door that had been locked because I was tired of waiting to be handed the keys, tired of being afraid, tired of holding myself in.

Yes Annie fuck them all and take it

Ixion sur Niter collides with the arena floor.

Bang bang bitch

I took a vow to guide the City to justice. And justice has always been found by way of my mercy.

YES… you ARE better

“Were you trying to rescue me?”

Love the banter

“I mean, you’re my damsel.”

Lol

Delo leans forward and kisses me, slobber and all. I’m so surprised, I nearly forget how to kiss him back. But I remember fast enough.

YESSSS

“No. They won’t. That’s why we have to take it.”

Take what's yours! Fuck em!

Then I decided it was time I stopped waiting for Griff Gareson to find me first.

YES DELO SEIZE YOU HAPPINESS

That he was, as Mabalena had put it, the sunlight in my darkness,

WEEPING BECAUSE MY HEART!

In this corner of the earth that is mine, I will read poetry and grow old in love.

Beautiful, happy together finally

Queen Freyda, the first female sovereign of Bassilea, is visiting soon with gifts of grain, and Delo and I will welcome her with a feast.

We loved this for Freyda!

Becca and Sty and Delo are there, surrounding me,

What a little family of love after hardship

The last time I saw it, the paint was fresh where now it’s faded, the wood had not yet turned gray with age, and I was only a boy.

WHAAAAAT

“There’s someone here to see you.”

NO WAY HIS DAD IS ALIVE?!

I remember Power pressing a badge into my hands as he told me it had been an honor.

Still devastated rip Power

moment I rose to my feet with a poem clutched in my hand and Power’s last salute lingering as goose bumps on my skin—

Chills.

Pallor’s sacrifice set me free of the blood in my veins, the curse I couldn’t get out, in ways I was only now beginning to understand.

THere is so much left to live for, little boy he loved

Here lies Pallor Aurelian, who chose a Stormscourge.

My heart. RIP Pallor you were the love that saved them all

I feel a rush of pride mingled with a little bit more of that twisting pain.

Crying now

We wanted you, we want you, to do that work.” She hears his name in it, and rubs her eyes with a sudden, jerking gesture.

Pallor and I want you to be the change in the world

But when I slip an arm around her, she curls closer,

I wanted them to end up together so bad but this feels right for their arcs. Tears

And in that case—preference for children to be brought for the Choosing could be given to foundlings, orphans.”

My heart. Children like them given a chance at a life better than this

She doesn’t have to say for kids like us.

But you both know its there

I close the door, pull Annie onto my bed, and remove her flamesuit. Her lips trace the burn scars down my face, and mine trace the brand on her thigh.

One last time

“You came back to me.” “And you came back to me.”

TEARS OF CALLBACK

“Now, my lord,” she says, “wasn’t there something you wanted to practice?”

I said a bang bang bangity bang

we bring the three dragon eggs to the steaming water, and Aela curls round them to wait for her hatchlings.

Peace and hope