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“You need me to free you. Saylah needs me to free her. This world needs me to free it,” Scarlett sneered. “You all need freedom, and yet I am the one who has been required to make sacrifice after sacrifice to ensure you receive it. I am the one who is being asked to give up her freedom for everyone else to have theirs.” She huffed out a harsh laugh. “I suppose asked is not the proper word, is it? It is simply assumed I will fulfill what everyone demands of me.”
The last person she locked gazes with before they disappeared was Callan. It had not escaped her that he hadn’t sworn to return with the others. She knew in the depths of her being he would not step foot in Avonleya again, and she prayed to the gods she had not just let him go to his death.
“This is my cost to bear. Not theirs,” Talwyn replied. “You know this, Az. This is what is best for the Courts, the continent, the entirety of the realm.” “This is the sacrifice of a queen,” Sorin said quietly. “It is my choice what to do with the mercy I have been given,” she replied. Her voice did not tremble. She did not flinch or show an ounce of hesitation. Still holding her jade green stare, Sorin said, “So be it.”
I wish this could have been different, but I love the redemption arc for her. The sacrifice of a queen for the good of her people, indeed.
“Do not let the connection break,” he heard Saylah warn. Then she spoke again in that ancient language, and Talwyn screamed. He heard a roar echo around the arena, but he could not focus on it because his knees were buckling as power poured into him. He was gripping Talwyn’s hands, lowering to the ground as she sank to it, still screaming in utter agony.
She murmured something that was too low for Sorin to hear, even with his enhanced senses restored. Whatever she’d said had Luan’s eyes closing briefly, a look of grief crossing his features as he gathered her close to him. She was still trembling. Luan rested his chin atop her head, and when he opened his eyes, they met Sorin’s. And in that moment, Sorin understood just how much Talwyn had sacrificed.
Already crying 25% of the way in. Lets goooooo. Bring the heartbreak and devastation. I came prepared this book, Melissa.
Still holding his hand in hers, she looked up at him and said, “When I return, I will tell you all of it. I just needed time to come to terms with what I have learned.” He slid a hand into her hair, cupping the back of her head. “We will face it together, Scarlett.” She smiled weakly, and he felt her dread down the bond before she blocked it. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
this room was warded extensively so that no magic could be accessed. The only room in the entirety of the cliffs from what Alaric said.
That's right! I had wondered how Alaric wouldn't be able to sense Talwyn had no magic and toss their negotiations out the window immediately. I forgot that HE was the one who requested the magic-nullifying room. Genius plot here. Truly.
Another few moments passed before she said softly, “I’ll drown with you, Cyrus. Whatever he let her do to you… I’ll dive in and drown with you on the hard days.” He swallowed thickly. He didn’t deserve a queen, a friend, like her. He didn’t deserve to serve in her Court, let alone call her family.
I knew of Sorin, of course. And Cassius, although I did not know his name until you found the mirror gate. I assumed they would come with us when the time came. But then you arrived on these shores with a number of ships. With children who adore you. With friends. With family. And I… I did not know how to tell you that you would need to leave them. Cyrus. Eliza. Rayner. The Water Prince. Juliette and Nuri. I did not know how to tell you that you—who has already been forced to give so much—were going to be forced to give even more. And the more I watched you and got to know you, I thought that
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The beings were screeching, golden swords clattering to the ground as the shadowfire consumed them. And while he kept his focus on his fire, making sure it flared back whenever one of the beings cut through it, he could hear her laughing in delight. From her vantage point, she could see every one of them. “She is terrifying,” Rayner muttered again.
Cyrus was about to announce he was going to return to his room when, in usual fashion, Scarlett broke the tension with an absurd statement. “I just want you to know that if I had met Rayner first, you and I would likely not be together.” Everyone’s head whipped to her. She was looking up at Sorin, batting her lashes. Sorin blinked back at her. “All I am saying,” she went on, “is that Death’s Maiden and The Reaper sound like they belong together.”
“You are deserving of being wanted, Cyrus. You are wanted.” The hand at his hip began moving, sliding along his abdomen. “I’ll tell you as often as you need to hear it.” His hand dipped beneath the band of his pants, and Cyrus stopped breathing entirely. “And when words aren’t enough, I’ll show you.”
“Can you promise me something, Cass?” “Depends on what it is.” They were both on their backs. Cyrus had a hand propped behind his head, the other resting on his stomach. “When you learn what I’ve done…” He loosed a long breath, trying to find the words. Cassius reached over, his fingers intertwining with the hand on his stomach. “It will not matter, Cyrus. We have all done things to survive.” Cyrus didn’t reply, and it was minutes later when Cassius said, “Cyrus?” “Yeah?” “If you break, we clean it up together.”
Melissa! You saint! Thank you for this scene. Again, emotional intelligence is off the charts. This healed something in me. Thank you.
Not wanting to dirty any of the furniture with her soiled clothing, she went straight to the bathing room. She did not undress. Instead, she climbed into the dry porcelain tub, curled in on herself, and finally let the tears come. It wasn’t long before she heard the door of her room open, the muffled footsteps on the ornate rugs. He did not bother undressing either as he climbed into the tub with her. Large hands pulled her to him, and she buried her face in his bare chest as he pulled the tie from her braid and unwound what was left of the plait.
Talwyn placed her hands over Ashtine’s, feeling the babes move beneath their fingers. “They will be protected more than any others.” “If Briar and I are not…” And Talwyn knew. She knew what the princess was asking her. Because they had both grown up without mothers and fathers. But they had grown up with each other. The gods knew she’d likely make a shit mother, but if Briar and Ashtine could not be there, those babes would never feel abandoned. Not for a single moment of their lives. “They will know love, Ashtine,” Talwyn said. “The unconditional kind. The kind you showed me. They will be
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And then Cassius was in his face, forcing him to look into his eyes. One brown, one pale and white. “I will never look at you with derision, disgust, or hatred. Never, Cyrus. Do you hear me? It is impossible when I love you.” Cyrus stopped breathing because he couldn’t have heard him right. “Say it again,” Cyrus whispered.
My heart is in danger rn isn't it?
Please, Cassius, for the love of Saylah, please stay true to this. Don't break my boy past the point of no return.
“Apparently, Alaric had something that allowed him to communicate with another realm. He believes it was destroyed when the Fellowship was burned, but Gehenna said it couldn’t be destroyed. Not by starfire alone,” Cyrus explained. “I am to find it and bring it to her when I bring her the spell book.”
Is this that nightstone dagger she nicked from his study? The one that swallows light? The one that is probably actually deathstone and I've been waiting for her to remember she has it so she can fight those dementor looking dudes?
She stopped pacing, turning to face him fully. “We are a family. We choose each other. We claim each other. You said something. Now we face it together. You taught me that, Cyrus.” He swallowed thickly before nodding his head, eyes falling to his lap. “You deserve a family, Cyrus,” Cass said before the voices could start up in his mind again. “You deserve people who fight for you.”
“I will not take another Source, Cyrus. It will be you or no one. It does not need to be tonight. It does not need to be tomorrow. It will be when you are ready, and if that day does not come? That is okay, too. We will figure something out. And if we do not? I choose a powerless existence with you over power with someone else. You deserve love, Cyrus. I’ll say it until you believe it, and then I’ll say it so you remember it.”
It was perfect when they were laying together later, legs tangled beneath blankets and facing each other in the dark of the room. It was perfect when Cyrus realized he didn’t have the slightest desire for a drink or mugweed, because this was enough to keep his thoughts at bay. It was perfect when, instead of hearing the Sorceress in his head as he drifted off to sleep, he heard Cassius’s words. What’s best for me is you. And he believed them.
But that had never been the real reason she had denied them his death. She didn’t need a male to avenge her or go after the Earth Fae. If anyone was going to kill Varlis, it would be her, and she would make damn sure she looked him in the eyes when she did it with her fucking fire.
She stopped speaking when Razik lifted his left hand, turning it so she could see the back where the twin flame Mark stood stark against his golden skin. “Come here.” “But your injuries—” “I swear to the Fates, Eliza, if you make me say it again—” But she was already moving, all but running to him. When she was within reach, his hands grasped her face, fingers sliding into her unbound hair and his mouth crushing against hers. And this kiss— Gods, this kiss was everything the others had been and more. Hot and desperate and all-consuming. He didn’t wait for her to let him in. His tongue
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She felt her cheeks flush, and she absolutely hated it. “I suppose we should figure out what we’re going to do then.” “The only thing I want to figure out is what you taste like,” he replied, reaching for the fitted undershirt. “Raz, we’re still healing,” she said, the argument as weak as her voice when she said it. “Me being on my knees is not going to affect any of our wounds,” he replied in that same matter-of-fact tone he said everything else in. “Arms up.”
“My penchant for collecting treasure is nothing compared to a full-blooded dragon shifter. But their most valued treasure? It was called dragocen. Mai is a variation of ‘mine’ in that language, and while they do not have twin flames, they do have mates. They called their mates mai dragocen. My most treasured. It was a sacred term to them, only used between mates.”
Because there were warriors pouring out of the main gates. But not Fae soldiers. Avonleyan ones. That was a dark queen moving among ashes with arrows of deathstone flying from her bow three at a time. That was a mythical king, long thought dead, atop a horse as dark as the coming night. That was an Ash Rider moving faster than the smoke he commanded. Those were dragons flying up and out of the main gates. One of shadows and one of flames. A king and queen atop them. Scarlett was finally here. And she had brought an army.
Hey siri, play Thundsrstruck.
Also! Where are the gods-danged fire emojis when you need them?!?!?!
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Scarlett straightened, turning in time to see an arrow coming for her. Her hand shot up, catching it by the shaft less than an inch from a clean shot to her heart. She blinked once, not quite believing it. Then she turned to Sorin, whose blades were currently locked between two seraphs. “I caught it!” she cried. Sorin’s gaze flicked to hers as he dropped a sword to wrap flaming fingers around one of the male’s throat. “Caught what?” he called back. She dropped low, sensing the seraph who was diving for her, her shadows coating his wings in black and snapping them clean off. “An arrow!” she
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A strangled cough rattled from the Maraan’s throat, and Cethin laughed. It was the same wicked laugh Scarlett had, and she found herself smiling when he said, “One would think your prince would have taught you to shield against this kind of power. Then again, I can feel you trying. Pitiful.”