Before I can finish, he turns away and sits down, his back to me, as if I was never there. I stare at the back of his head. There’s something about it that makes me want to commit a violent act with a blunt instrument.
And I don’t know why, but I sit on that step until the last person’s gone home and I’m still grinning. Like someone who has a bit of a crush.
Beatriss looked away, fighting tears. She gripped their hands. “I’m forgetting what the truth is, friends,” she said. “We were here, Lady Beatriss. We saw it all, so when you forget what the truth is, you come to us and we’ll remind you.
And I hate him and love him and curse him and feel sorry for him, all at the same time.
Her voice echoed and its volume took him by surprise. He walked to the rock’s edge, wanting to listen to it until the last echo disappeared, wanting to capture it in his hands.
And for Narnie, hours without them went by, and then days, and then weeks. And in between those seconds and minutes and hours and day and weeks was the most acute sense of loneliness she’d ever experienced.
Everyone agreed that Lucian would ruin this.
He takes the coffee from her, needing fresh air because if he doesn’t get out of this room, he’ll suffocate from memories. He’s felt like that for more than a month now. There’s no particular reason for it, but sometimes he feels like he can’t breathe, like his body is shutting down.
But I want to give in to it sometimes, only because I’m tired and the feeling that I’ve had for a while-that something is haunting me down-becomes all consuming and I’m frightened that one morning there will be not enough to keep me going.
It’ll never go back to the way it was, Frankie. But you have to make sure it goes forward.
If I could be anything but what I am, I would be tomorrow. If I could be what my father wants me to be, then maybe I could stay for that, too. If I could be what you want me to be, I’d want to stay. But I am what I am, and all I want is freedom.
Why did I feel so grateful that people treated me well?
He was very solemn; she wasn’t. Phaedra couldn’t stop smiling.
And then the Charynite last borns were lifting Quintana on their shoulders and the Lumaterans had Froi on theirs, and she was laughing and he thought he’d never seen her look so beautiful. And over everyone’s heads, Froi could see Gargarin and Arjuro staring up at her with their bittersweet smiles, and Froi imagined two boys with the same face all those years ago in a filthy cave beneath the swamps of Abroi, praying for a better life.
Because your grief at what you saw in those moments was too much for her to bear. Your pain made her weak. Her pain made you strong. Light and dark. Dark and light.
Wives can replace their husbands, Georgie,” her aunt once told her. “But sisters can’t replace their brothers.
Finnikin met her eyes, wanting desperately to make sense of her request. Why Pietrodore? But in a moment the realization hit, and he smiled in wonder. “It’s not chance, Trevanion,” he said, kicking the golden carpet of leaves at his feet. He ran back toward her, sliding part of the way until he could grab her by the waist and swing her around. “You are a goddess, Evanjalin of the Monts.
You’re a bully and I know you don’t care, but I just thought you should know that I think you’re scum. He’s probably some miserable kid with his own demons and he doesn’t need yours.
My father believed in signs,’ she says. ‘Not that they change events or predict what’s going to happen. It’s more about what we do when we come across one.
My friends always told me they wanted to rescue me from Siobhan, and I relished being saved because it meant that people stopped tapping me on the shoulder to point out what I was doing wrong.