More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
January 10 - January 10, 2025
While the argument has been made for a number of villains to ascend to the coveted spot of Supreme Evil, notably Everild the Necromancer, Scorlisha Baneblade of the Mounted Beasts, The Plague Bringer Norasthmus, and Dave from Next Door Who Insists on Doing Yard Work at Dawn,
Gril made a small noise in response, a clicking in the back of his throat unique to draekins. Though he couldn’t reproduce it himself, Damien had learned many years ago that that particular sound translated to either “excellent” or “potatoes.” The tail wagging suggested the former, though Gril was quite enthusiastic about root vegetables as well.
Blame not one’s failings on cruelty when ignorance is the much more likely cause, or, more simply, most of the time people weren’t mean, they were just dumb.
“Are you crying? Oh, dark gods, stop that.”
I am corruption made corporeal, a nightmare in human flesh, the Abyss brought topside, all right?” Her blue eyes roved over his face, down to his chest and back up. “Yeah, but you don’t look anything like a demon. You’re not red or hooved, and you’re not that much bigger than anyone else. You just look like…a boy.”
Key: calm down. Never had anyone actually calmed down when ordered to, she was sure of it, and yet there she was, feeling calm.
When the day is night, and the corners of the realm have fallen into rot, the hallowed son shall release the Harbinger of Destruction upon earth once again. Only by the spilling of the descendants’ blood may It rise, and by the spilling of the heart of the earth’s blood to beseech the gods may It fall.
But he didn’t just dump her onto the bed and leave her there, though he’d been envisioning doing just that the whole walk. “You are an incredible pain in the ass,” he grumbled, setting her down gently. Amma mumbled just as Damien turned to leave, something that sounded much too much like, “Wait until we’re married.” He froze, looking back at her. “What was that?” But she hadn’t really spoken to him, still very clearly asleep.
“I refuse to alter my actions further at your whim.”
There she went, saying his name again. The first time it had been on her tongue, she’d been sobbing, but even then it felt too visceral, too intimate, and shortly after she had repeated it as a soft plea, and that had—well, fuck, it had done a number of things to him, none of which he cared to think on too long. Very few called him by his given name, but even now as she chastised him, it was like she were whispering it directly into his chest, making the muscles there tighten around her voice and hold it still so it couldn’t escape.
“You have resting villain face.”
Damien considered her, the way the tip of her tongue poked out from between her teeth and how her freckles bunched up as she grinned, and there was a moment, however brief and absolutely mad, he would have given her anything she asked for then. Well, that’s bloody dangerous, he thought,
his name’s Branson by the way, father’s name is Bran, used to own the tavern and bar which Branson swore he’d never take over, his heart actually belongs to the sea, he says, but then his dad got sick, and—” “Amma, please.”
“The only thing that barkeep is interested in filling, is you with Branson-son.” She gasped, too playful now to be convincing. “No! That can’t be what he meant. It’s got nothing to do with chickens.” “Chickens?” “He said if I went back there with him, he’d show me his massive co—” “Sanguinisui, go outside!”
“Did you hear that?” Amma’s sharp whisper cut into Damien’s mind as it began to drift into sleep. He groaned. “You mean that terrifying cry that sounded like a woman being gutted?” “Yes!” “No, I didn’t. Go to sleep.”
“Listen to me,” he said, setting his face stony. “I am the most frightening thing in this forest. Do you understand that?” Amma’s brows knit like she didn’t quite believe him and began to glance warily over her shoulder. Damien took his free hand to her chin and tugged her face back. “I asked if you understand. Do you?”
“Good. And since you have chosen to press yourself against the most frightening thing in this forest, you are either very brave,” he said with a playful lilt and then dropped his voice to a heady rumble, “or you are already in the worst possible danger you could be.”
Her eyes flashed then, narrowing. “How pretty?” “I’ve met prettier since,” he said carefully.
He couldn’t believe it, not for a moment, even when she said it herself, that there was a single soul in the realm that she couldn’t convince to fall in utter and unconditional love with her.
The kiss Damien actually gave Amma was only a gentle press of his lips to her forehead, barely a brush at all. An accident, really. She wouldn’t know, thank the basest of infernal beasts, but he would, and that was good enough for now. Bad enough too.
“This is just how I look. I’m told I have resting villain face.
“You’re in the middle of Faebarrow Keep, and you’re a stranger here. No one will know why you’re doing this, even the people you’re trying to protect.” He turned slightly to free the corner of his mouth, brows pinched. “But you’ll know,” he said softly against her palm. “What else could even matter?”
“I hope you are prepared to leave this place again.” She nodded, fingers finding their way to his collar and the warm blood dripping down him, sticky and wet on her palms as she held tight. “Good, because I’ve decided to take you either way.”
“Well, you know, sometimes you just need to have some fucking fun, all right?”
“Ready to go, my little prisoner?” Amma almost giggled, tingling under his grip, but only cleared her throat, putting on her best wide-eyed, innocent look. “It’s not really up to me, is it, Master Bloodthorne?” Damien growled in her ear as he walked them down the steps into the earth that had opened up. “Careful talking like that, or I’ll think you really are mine for the taking.”
