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Page after page, tinted caramel with age,
the peace of knowing their fate.”
like a ghost.
it is never wise to offend a musician.
It felt like she had swallowed sunlight—
as if he had drunk from the sky,
the ice in her stomach wouldn’t fully melt until she spoke with him. Until she heard his voice again and felt his gaze on her.
I am coming to love him, in two different ways. Face to face, and word to word.
He came between me and Death, taking wounds that were supposed to be mine.
I am so afraid. And yet how I long to be vulnerable and brave when it comes to my own heart.
For the first time since she had met him, Iris didn’t know what to say. In the office at the Gazette, she always had a retort ready for him. Even when she was writing to him as Carver, the words had spilled out of her onto the page. But now she felt uncommonly shy, and the words were like honey on her tongue. She desperately wanted to say the right things to him.
“The truth is I have my pride, and I feared my feelings. And so I left you with many things unsaid, and then I put what I thought was a cushion of days between us. Time to protect myself, to put all my armor on again. But then I realized that I’m not guaranteed anything. I should know this well by now, after being in the trenches. I’m not promised this evening, let alone tomorrow. A bomb could fall from the sky any moment, and I wouldn’t have had the chance to get to do this.”
“I don’t deserve to be this happy. Not when there’s so much pain and terror and loss in the world.”
“Why would you say that?” Roman replied, his voice gentle but urgent. “Do you think we could live in a world made only of those things? Death and pain and horror? Loss and agony? It’s not a crime to feel joy, even when things seem hopeless. Iris, look at me. You deserve all the happiness in the world. And I intend to see that you have it.”
She wanted to believe him, but her fear cast a shadow. He could be killed. He could be wounded again. He could choose to leave her, like Forest. She w...
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She blinked away her tears, hoping Roman couldn’t see them. She cleared her throat and said, “That seems like quite a bit of trouble, doesn’t it?” “Iris,” said Roman, “you are worthy of love. You are worthy to feel joy right n...
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I’m not going anywhere, unless you tell me to leave, and even then, we might need to negotiate.” She nodded. She needed to trust him. She had doubted him before, and he had proven her wrong. Again and again. Iris gave him a hint of a smile. Her ...
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Iris’s thoughts helplessly rolled, just like the siren that continued to wail.
Even when the world seems to stop, threatening to crumble, and the hour feels dark as the siren rings … it isn’t a crime to feel joy.
“I’m old, Keegan,” Marisol argued. “They’re still young.” “Marisol!” Attie cried. “You’re only thirty-three!”
Everything was changing.
she hated this war. She hated that it was dragging good people early to their graves, that it was tearing people’s lives and dreams apart.
He didn’t know why she suddenly began to blur. Why her edges melted before him, as if she were a vision. A dream about to fade. Not until he blinked and tears slipped down his face.
until our bones return to dust. Even then, may I find your soul still sworn to mine.”
“I think we all wear armor. I think those who don’t are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by the sharp edges of the world, over and over again.
‘You will miss so much by being so guarded.’”
I never thanked you for going to the front lines with me. For coming between me and the grenade.
In some terrible way, it felt as if Roman was nothing more than a feverish dream. This ring was the only proof she had, the one tangible thing to whisper to her, Yes, it happened, and he loved you.
