From blood and ash,” I shouted, lifting the hand joined with Poppy’s. People echoed the words through the town and the valley. Poppy looked up at me and then faced the crowd as she lifted the hand that held Kieran’s. “We have risen!
I’ve waited for you forever, and the only thing that scares me – that terrifies me – is that something is going to take you from me, and I won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.
Beautiful, but in the way all wild, dangerous predators were.
I closed my eyes. What had he said when I’d called him a monster? I wasn’t born that way. I was made this way.
I hadn’t changed because of Casteel. I’d been in the process long before he came into my life, but he was a catalyst.
You’re more than a Queen. More than a goddess on the verge of becoming a Primal. You’re Penellaphe Da’Neer, and you’re fearless.
The days yet to be seen are not foretold. That even what the gods may have in store for us is not written in stone.
In death, nothing would keep me from you. That I swear.
Forcing a warrior to don a veil of submission was never going to last.
I’m concerned about you – about everything that has happened to you.
And later, when Casteel and I were alone, I didn’t think it was possible to be loved more thoroughly than I was.
You’re a blessing, Sera. No matter what anyone says or believes, you are a blessing. You always have been. You need to know that.
I broke, and just like Casteel had promised, he was there to catch those pieces, holding them together and keeping them safe until I could piece myself back together.
This is the part where you tell me your name.” My lips nor my tongue moved. “Then I’ll have to keep calling you Princess.
But war was never one-sided. Casualties always piled up on both sides, and the losses were always the greatest among the most innocent.
You’ve changed my evening. I’d planned to return to my quarters. Maybe get a good, albeit boring, night of sleep, but I have a suspicion that tonight will be anything but boring if I spend it with you.
The man had two heads, and I’m sure you can guess which one he used most.
If any of those who inflicted one second of pain on you still breathed, I would tear them apart, limb from limb. I pray that the death you dealt them was slow and painful.
I nodded as Casteel cursed when the arrow he’d been pulling on most likely got stuck on something important. Like an organ.
Fate just sees all the possible outcomes of free will.