Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom, #1)

by Amélie Wen Zhao

But in rare moments like this, when the sun hung ripe and swollen as a mandarin over the glittering sea, there was still a shattered-glass beauty to be found in the remnants of a conquered land.

“There are old gods and new gods, kind gods and fickle gods—and most powerful of them all are the Four Demon Gods.”

“Because it lets me hope that there’s something else for me out there. Something other than this life.”

Zen was not prepared for this.

Unfortunately Zen was someone who went very much by the book. He was not one for improvisation.

Grief is for the survivors, and I think that, rather than living my life in pain, I would live it in laughter and love. To the fullest.

“You’re Zen. You saved my life, many times over. You taught me practitioning, you gave me the chance to fight back. I was afraid of your demon but never of you.”

“I don’t care about my blood pressure!”

“I wish for you to not go anywhere without me. In this world and the next. I wish for you to choose me.” A pause, and softer: “That is, if you would wish it.”

“Live not for those whose souls rest in eternal slumber in the next world…but for those still struggling to find that peace in this one.”