Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)

by Olivia Atwater

“Well then. That makes it all better. Was there anything else you were curious about, while we’re at it? Shall I take off my trousers and let you take my measure?” Dora knit her brow. “Take your measure?” she asked. “What ought I to be measuring, sir?”

It was a shame, she thought, that so many beautiful things were also so ugly on the inside.

She had little effort to spare for making unpleasant men more comfortable.

If we are being politely dishonest with one another, then you may assure the Lord Sorcier that I am charmed to meet him too. But in all truth, I am charmed to make your acquaintance.”

think that Elias has been angry now for so long that he is scared to let it go – I think he is scared that it would make him too complacent, and he might become all of those things which he so despises in others.”

“There is such a thing as evil in this world,” Elias told her quietly. “It does not help to look away from it. It does not even help necessarily to look at it.” His fingers brushed through her hair, and she shivered. “But sometimes, when you cannot force the world to come to its senses, you must settle only for wiping away some of the small evils in front of you.”

“I have known many human beings with a full soul to their name who do not have half so much compassion or practicality as you. On a poor day, I might assume this to be a kind of indictment of the human soul. But today, I believe that you might simply have an overabundance of both qualities.”

“Oh, bother,” Dora sighed. “I am about to flout propriety, Lady Carroway. Do be kind to me, please.” She wrapped her arms tightly around the magician – and felt him crumble away against her.

It is this dastardly need to remain calm and composed and polite that has left us all feeling so alone.” She was very quiet for a moment.

“it is a terrible shame that you will not marry Albert. I would have loved you as a daughter.”

Awwwwww

It is easy to be kind and generous and honourable when there is little to lose by it.

“I did not come here only to dance. I came here only to dance with you. It is quite a different thing.”

“It may be true that you only have half a soul, Dora,” he whispered, with a surprising abundance of empathy in his voice. “But that does not make you half a person.”

“Attraction and companionship and friendship. Is there nothing special about those things, especially if they are all together at once?”

“English people do speak of more than just the weather,” Dora told him flatly. “Do they?” Lord Blackthorn asked curiously. “Well what else do they talk about?” Dora thought back on all the garden parties and balls that she had attended over the years. She was embarrassed to realise that indeed, nearly half of her interactions with strangers had been about the weather after all.

“Would you not argue with me for once?” Elias said with a flush. “Listen here, Miss Ettings! I am in love with you. You deserve to hear that. I love your wit and cleverness. I love that you are kind but almost never nice. I love your eyes and your hair and your freckles, and the fact that you smell like some monstrous floral perfume all of the time.” He paused, now looking somewhat offended at himself. “And I love to dance with you. That is the worst of it by far.”