A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (The Tithenai Chronicles #1)

by Foz Meadows

I’d never expected more than my third son’s modest sinecure, and though I was hardly indifferent to the prospect of greater wealth, I deemed myself allergic to the increased responsibilities it so frequently engendered.

idk why but i love this sentence even if i had to read it three times

“Should have done unsinks no boats,” said the tieren.

can i incorporate this saying into my vernacular

But I was still trapped; that I’d gone willingly into the cage—that I found it more hospitable than expected, even—didn’t change my inability to leave it. And without that freedom, I couldn’t ultimately choose to trust anything about my situation, because the choice itself was an illusion.

“Yours is a strange and stubborn endurance, Velasin.” And then, more softly still, such that I might almost have imagined it: “Just like your mother’s.”

He pronounced it the Ralian way, Qui-Katay, and as this was the least objectionable of the many things wrong with what he’d just said, I fixated on it as a point of sanity.

pls don't start informing me of all the things i've been mispronouncing in my head this whole time

After nearly a minute of this, Velasin made what even Cae knew to be a universally rude gesture, to which Markel poked out his tongue and sat back with his arms crossed, looking smug and not the least bit cowed.

GOD i just know markel is giving velasin so much shit here and i am literally cackling

He let the contact linger a moment, then forced himself to pull away, conscious of the fact that Markel was watching them both like a naturalist in the field.

i want every single cae and velasin scene to be rewritten from markel's pov please

“We’re not sure if the Ralian ambassador will make it,” said the tieren, abruptly reclaiming my attention.

this is the first mention that their marriage was supposed to be a political alliance of their two countries in.... a long time? feels like the author got caught up in the rest of the story and forgot to focus on any of that

“You finally kiss a man, and it isn’t me? I’m heartbroken.” “You’re not my type,” signed Markel, grinning as he winked.

markel and velasin tho 👀 😩

Caethari inhaled sharply, and all at once I was done with pretending. I dropped the cloth and grabbed his neck, pulling him in for a desperate kiss. I was hungry for comfort, for proof that we were both unharmed, and he met that hunger with need of his own, until we were grasping at each other, gasping at the power of both touching and being touched.

nothing says sexy like killing ur own r*pist in defense of ur new hubby 😌

“It’s worth everything,” I said aloud in Ralian, and shocked us both by embracing him. He hesitated, which I understood—we’d spent a lifetime with our friendship hidden in public, constrained by Ralia’s rigid sense of gender and class—and then hugged me back, quick and tight.

i am actually tearing up a little don't look at me

“You must be patient with me, dear Cae, as I learn to inhabit myself.”

🥹

But Cae was rooted in place, staring helplessly as Laecia stomped into view.

IIIIIII FUCKING CALLED IT LIKE EIGHTY PAGES AGO I SAID IT WAS THE SISTER!!!!!!!!!! [captain holt voice] VINDICATIONNNN

Swallowing hard, he said, “You fainted?” “Only a little.” “You fainted.” “Yes.” “Out of the way of a crossbow bolt?” “I am a man,” croaked Velasin, with as much dignity as he could muster under the circumstances, “of many talents.”

It felt like family.

😭😭😭