A Day of Fallen Night (The Roots of Chaos #0.1)

by Samantha Shannon

‘Some have the restraint to taste of worldly pleasure,’ she said. ‘You and I are among them, Tunuva. When I found you with Esbar the first time, I feared you would lose yourselves to your passion. You proved me wrong. You knew how much of the wine to taste. You knew to leave some in the cup.’ This time, when she smiled, there was no warmth in it. ‘But some, Tunuva – some would drink of the sweet wine until they drowned.’

She would not drown in grief again. Instead, she swam in it, bathed in it. She drank it like a bitter wine, until only a sliver of her soul was left to gasp for breath.

What is the world, Dumai asked her, but a fleeting dream, from which we will all one day wake?