A Duet with the Siren Duke (Married to Magic, #4)

by Elise Kova

I might have freed myself from Charles, but there are still shackles around me.

“We all endure deep and difficult wounds. They’re not an excuse for handling oneself in a boorish manner.”

“Never compromise your worth, not for anyone, not even for family.”

Because no one should have their darkest secrets held against them.

“I’m going to sacrifice you to a god.” “The reminder really isn’t necessary.” I glare at him. “Why?” “Are you always so insistent?” I snap. “You’re not really one to talk.” “Good Gods, man, and here I was trying to be kind to you.” I throw my arms up and drift back awkwardly. “I didn’t ask for your kindness.” He has the audacity to glare at me. “Oh, forgive me for giving it to you then.

“Monstrous?” I scoff. “Says the man who intends to sacrifice me to the god who claimed my whole crew.”

“Where are you going?” He glances over his shoulder. “To get your family the money they need.”

if we’re going to do this then I need to be more confident you will be protected.”

“Above water and against mortal men, I’ve little doubt you can hold your own.”

His fingers settle under my chin and the scowl my face was working into relaxes away. He’s as ethereal as always, a fitting acolyte for the god of death. So gorgeous it hurts. Seductive enough with a glance to have a woman throwing herself overboard for his arms. Don’t trust a pretty face, Victoria, you know how that ends.

“Wait, I have questions.” “More?” His tone is exasperated, but a slight smirk curls just the very corner of his lips. As if he’s fighting amusement.

“You seem fairly sharp; I’d be surprised if you didn’t have the sense of it all.” He folds his arms. The smirk spreads wider. “Flattery will get you nowhere.” “And here I was hoping to soften up your crusty exterior.” “Sorry, ‘Crusty’ is my middle name.” He snorts. “Victoria Crusty…”

“I’ve overcome more fearsome challenges than an angry old god.”

“Men like you—the ones so used to being in control—will lie without hesitation. And even when you’re caught, you don’t feel the slightest bit of remorse. If anything, you’ll make the other person think that they were the one who misunderstood.”

I believe humans would eat with a…furnk?

“Savvy, strong, intelligent, capable, honest, and loyal… I lucked into quite the woman that night in the sea.”

stubborn yet wanting to bend to appease others, independent yet craving approval, needy and somehow not needy enough.

“Forgive me for caring.” “Don’t hide behind your compassion to conceal the fact that you just don’t want to feel indebted or vulnerable.”

“Leaders like us, those responsible for warriors or ship crews, can never need help. We’re the ones supposed to be helping others, aren’t we? Asking for help would mean imposing on the people we’re meant to protect—showing vulnerability when there can be none. We are ready to give everything, even our flesh and blood, if that’s what the cost is.”

You seem to require all my energy and attention these days; I can think of nothing else but you.”

“And it was all an illusion, wasn’t it? If not him, then you. If not you, then your god. Surely I’m more than a thing to be claimed. That can’t be all there is for me…there must be more.”

“For you, Victoria, anything.”

“I was so lonely for so long, but I was never really alone, was I?”

“You are worthy of so much more than I, or anyone, could ever give. I could spend a lifetime giving to you, and it wouldn’t be enough,”

“Because I know what it’s like to feel as though you are adrift, alone in a vast sea.”

“You don’t have to repay someone for their love. It’s given freely.” “But—” “No buts. That’s it. It’s that simple. If someone loves you, truly loves you, it’s because they want to—because they can’t imagine a world in which they don’t. Because you make their soul sing just with your mere existence.”

“I don’t know who this person was. But they were clearly a sad, small, and cruel individual.”

“You are worthy of being loved not just by friends and family, but by a lover as well.”

“We’ve both known loss, and pain.” He releases my face and trails his fingertips down my arms. “And we try to do the best we can because of it.”

“Not because of it, in spite of it. Who we are is independent of the trauma that tries to mar our souls. It is a part of us, it might teach us, but it does not define us.”

“Calm yourself, Duke of Faith, no need to be so emotional.”

“Do not allow a human to turn you foolish, Ilryth. Even if that human is the offering.” Ventris folds his arms, scowling openly. “Do not allow history to blind you to progress, Ventris,” Ilryth fires back.

“Let me be the one to tell you, Victoria, without doubt or hesitation, that you are worthy of kindness, compassion, and love. And I will tell you it a thousand times over if that is what it will take for you to believe it.”

“Because everything, good and bad, is a part of who you are. It might not define you, but it informs you. Teaches you. We fought, and struggled, and bled to get this far in life. And while I wish you never had to suffer as I fear you might have…if you did, that, too, is part of the Victoria I admire.”

“I’ll forget…everything?” Emily’s embrace. The smell of the wind on my first sailing. The taste of my father’s ale. How the stars shone the first night I taught Jivre how to navigate by them. The feeling of the fine silks my mother would bring home, gliding between my fingers.

But the illusion of safety is better than nothing.

“I do not expect my heart to survive meeting you unscathed.

“You want heartache?” “I want you—and every risk and delight that comes with you.”

damn my heart and damn his.

“I wish I could redesign the stars to give us more time.”

“I love you,” he whispers softly. “I love you too much to kiss you, to have you, if your mind isn’t with me.”

I can’t help but wonder if your choices would be different, should you still possess every facet of yourself. I…I don’t want this version of you,” he admits, and I can hear how painful it is to do so. “I want the woman I fell in love with.”

“It’s time to let this go. Forget me, Victoria.” He leans in and kisses me one last time. It’s goodbye.

My heart hurts

“Have you seen Ilryth lately? He hasn’t been showing up to his meetings as expected.” My brow furrows. “Who?”

Ouch... I knew it was coming, but ouch.

There is no end. Not really. We continue past the point of oblivion. Where one world stops, another begins. At the end of every exhale is a new breath. Death is not a finality, but an irrevocable change. It is a continuation, but past the point of no return. A truth that cannot be seen until you are undergoing the metamorphosis.

if there’s anyone you don’t give enough credit to, that you’ve never given enough credit to…it is yourself. You’ve done all you could. The level best that could be expected of anyone. Find peace with that and leave the rest behind.”

“Stop running, please,” he says softly. “I’m here now. I don’t want to be anywhere else. So don’t run from me.”

“Some things we must do ourselves. No amount of wishing or magic can free us or spare us the responsibility.”

Life is both a graceful and an audacious thing. Life does not relent. It can be broken, time and again, without relenting.