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This place isn’t palatial, my role is demeaning, my jailer is an arrogant prick, but I’m under no illusions. I’m better off here than I would be on the streets. That’s the only reason I’ve stayed as long as I have. Because, as shitty as this life is, it’s still better than being homeless in Ascor.
Failure isn’t an option.
Cultured speech, with accents that range from the clipped tones of Grimm, the airy sing-song of a Wonderland noble, or the lilting honeyed tones of a cove-dwelling merchant from the Sea of Delorood.
Clearly, there is a price for everything…
I turn my attention back to the stranger. He actually smiles at me, and it’s like watching day break against the sky. His smile makes me absurdly hopeful. For what? I’m unsure.
“Gold is abundant and something I can easily find, Neva. A kiss must be earned, not bought.”
“They’re one of the five houses under the Order of Aves. Accipitrine, Corvid, Cathartidae, Strigiform, and Gryphus.”
“The Order of Aves is a league of aviary shifters, able to turn into birds many times their natural size, and they’re bred for one thing: the hunt.”
I am a patient beast. And hopefully there will come a day that she will not flinch away from me, a day when I’m able to teach her the way an honorable man truly worships a woman’s body.
“Purity is found here. An untouched maid can be the vilest of monsters, and a prostitute can be damn close to a saint.”
The shadows form a bloodless face, A shapeless girl, lacking grace; On midnight wings, her fate is found, and puts a djinn into the ground.
“No matter what you’re running from, it’s not worth your life,”
You face the pain and push through it, or you don’t deserve the life you’ve been given.”
Malvolo Vorst might be stunningly handsome but I hate him!
“No one has ever treated me tenderly,” I explain. “Not Darius. Not any of the men who tried to buy me. Not even Malvolo. I… your kindness means so much to me, I don’t want to take the chance of changing it.”
“Men take what they want and then that’s it. They reveal their true colors.”
Men of honor protect their women. Sex is a gift, given freely and for love.
“We’re dragons, Neva. Dragons love treasure. Reve hasn’t bothered to communicate in years, not until you came along. Malvolo didn’t kill you when you entered his horde. And I can’t keep my hands off you, even though I damn well should.”
“When a pall is cast upon the land, despair not, mortals, for come forth heroes ten. One in oceans deep, One the flame shall keep, One a fae, One a cheat, One shall poison grow, One for death, One for chaos, One for control, One shall pay a magic toll...”
“You never ask for anything, Herrick,” she whispers to me. “You’ve always given everything to others without ever considering yourself. Praise, treasure, women. You’re willing to let Reve or Malvolo have them, so long as it makes them happy. You deny your dragon’s base nature. You never prioritize what you want.”
The golden dragon of the south is oft described as a gentle creature in the stories and legends. It isn’t. It craves dominance and control, just like any other.
We are hoarders and when we find a treasure, we hoard that treasure, disallowing anyone else to ever find it again.
He’s had more intimate contact with Neva than either of us, being able to meet her in the dreamworld and dive deep into her psyche in a way Herrick and I could only wish. Magic like that takes place soul to soul, and it’s more intimate than Herrick and I will ever hope to be with her.
I want Neva. But, I want more than just her body. I want her caring, nurturing… I want her love.
I can’t let the hounds get to Neva. Can’t let them touch her. She’s mine. Mine to protect, mine to love.
“I decide what’s worth risking my life, Neva. And you’re worth it.” He pauses for a few moments and traces the line of my right cheek, down to my jaw. “I just wish you believed that too.”
She tells Carmine how she can change shapes. And not in the way that their dutiful huntsman can change—Neva is not limited to one form.
Neva is an omnifarious. A being able to completely subvert the laws of nature. Imagination is the only inhibitor on her abilities. She’s been born for one purpose and one purpose only—to defeat Morningstar’s general, the djinn named Hassan.
“One kiss,” I whisper to myself. “And set us both free.”
But that’s the funny thing about fate. She’s a wily mistress; she knows just where you need to be and the time you need to be there.
“Don’t. This is my battle to fight.” “I don’t care what the bloody fuck you are,” Malvolo says, voice coming out a baleful hiss. “I’m not letting you go into battle alone. I’m taking these fuckers down with you.”
“Heroes only become heroes with hard work and dedication,”
