Aparna Manoj

“She would never kill what she desired most- not when she wanted Tamlin as much as I did. But if I killed him... she either knew I couldn't do it, or she was playing a very, very dangerous game.

Conversation after conversation echoed in my memory, until I heard Lucien's words, and everything froze. And that was when I knew.

I couldn't breathe, not as I replayed the memory, not as I recalled the conversation I'd overheard one day. Lucien and Tamlin in the dining room, the door wide open for all to hear- for me to hear.

'For someone with a heart of stone, yours is certainly soft these days.'

I looked at Tamlin, my eyes flicking to his chest as another memory flashed. The Attor in the garden, laughing.

'Though you have a heart of stone, Tamlin,' the Attor said, 'you certainly keep a host of fear inside it.'

Amarantha would never risk me killing him- because she knew I couldn't kill him.

Not if his heart couldn't be pierced by a blade. Not if his heart had been turned to stone.

I scanned his face, searching for any glimmer of truth. There was only that bold rebellion within his gaze.

Perhaps I was wrong- perhaps it was just a faerie turn of phrase. But all those times I'd held Tamlin... I'd never felt his heartbeat. I'd been blind to everything until it came back to smack me in the face, but not this time.

That was how she controlled him and his magic. How she controlled all the High Lords, dominating and leashing them just as she kept Jurian's soul tethered to that eye and bone.

Trust no one, Alis had told me. But I trusted Tamlin- and more than that, I trusted myself. I trusted that I had heard correctly- I trusted that Tamlin had been smarter than Amarantha, I trusted that all I had sacrificed was not in vain.

The entire room was silent, but my attention was upon only Tamlin. The revelation must have been clear on my face, for his breathing became a bit quicker, and he lifted his chin.

I took a step toward him, then another. I was right. I had to be.

I sucked in a breath as I grabbed the dagger off the outstretched pillow. I could be wrong- I could be painfully, tragically wrong.

But there was a faint smile on Tamlin's lips as I stood over him, ash dagger in hand.

There was such a thing as Fate- because Fate had made sure I was there to eavesdrop when they'd spoken in private, because Fate had whispered to Tamlin that the cold, contrary girl he'd dragged to his home would be the one to break his spell, because Fate had kept me alive just to get to this point, just to see if I had been listening.

And there he was- my High Lord, my beloved, kneeling before me.

'I love you,' I said, and stabbed him.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses