Silver Under Nightfall (Silver Under Nightfall #1)

by Rin Chupeco

The bar for empathy was on the ground as far as the nobility was concerned, but when you were used to eating dirt, being thrown a bone felt like kindness.

“There are many things we suffer through that we never deserve, and that is true whether you are dead or living.

Give him a fight every time; he knew the rules there. Stay alive, run the opponent through, confirm that they were dead, keep them that way. But here, you could suffer a thousand cuts from a dowager matron armed with nothing but a paper fan and impeccable genealogy, and they would call it a bloodbath. He had no defenses against the painted smiles and fluttering compliments that turned vicious and condescending once backs were turned.

I can spend the night with a gentleman and think no more about him the next morning. Beautiful gems have kept my attention for far longer. But you, love. You’re too kind for this. You’ll always leave pieces of your heart behind, whether you want to or not, and to people who deserve it least of all.

He’d wasted years trying to garner the respect that no one had ever planned on giving him.

“I’ll go where you both go,” he found himself saying, feeling strangely at peace with the words.

You chafe at being called weak, but that simply does not matter to me. We intend to protect you. Whatever your hatred of me, I will not see you harmed.”

“She’d always been kind to me.” “Why do you keep turning someone else’s compassion into a favor that you owe, instead of accepting that you are worthy of it?”

“Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps you are worth saving? That you are worth the time to be kind to? Do you really want to stay to defend a city that has treated you so terribly?”

The only true power within Elouve, it seemed, lay with old men who should long ago have been relegated to obscurity. Change only occurred when they allowed it, according to what they considered proper, never for those most affected by it.

“Did you ever even love her?” Remy asked bitterly. His father met his gaze. “Of course I did, Son,” he said calmly. “I wouldn’t hate her so much if I hadn’t.”