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13 pages, Audiobook
First published February 6, 2018
"Whatever happens - you and me are together forever. All right?"
Me: I don't need to re-read the previous book,
I still know everything.
*starts reading the first chapter*
Me: I don't know who any of you are.
“You can't escape your destiny.”
“We cannot be stopped. We are eternal. We are life itself. And we will do anything to survive.”
“Perhaps the past didn't matter anymore.
Only magic mattered. Only survival mattered.
Only power mattered, in whatever form she could possess it.”
Cleo looked up into his face—the face of someone she’d come to love more than anyone or anything else in this world, in this life.
Her friend. Her husband. Her king.
“Freedom is what counts. Freedom for everyone - be they rich or poor. The freedom to choose our own lives, our own paths, without an absolute ruler telling us what we can and cannot do. That is what I fight for.”
“So the rumors about you are true,” he said solemnly.
She swallowed past the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. “Most of them, I’m afraid.”
“Good.” He continued to hold her gaze when she wished she could look away. “Then be a demon, my beautiful daughter. Be whatever you need to be to put an end to the Kindred once and for all.”
“Why did you choose Nic?” Magnus asked, hoping to distract Kyan somehow. “Wasn’t there anyone better?”
Kyan laughed. “Nicolo has a soul of fire.”
“Because of his hair? More the color of carrots thrown into a horse’s trough than fire, if you ask me.”
Gaius’s eyebrows drew together. He looked pained. “Magnus loved you. He fought for you. He defied me again and again in order to save you, even if it meant his own destruction. He was worthy of you in a way that I was never worthy of Elena. I see that now. And for that alone, you must survive this, Cleiona Bellos.” Then he scowled at her. “But know this. I would personally kill you in an instant if it meant that my son could live again.”
…
Of a beautiful golden princess who rightfully despised him. Whose blue-green eyes held only hate for so long that he didn’t remember precisely when her gaze had softened.
This princess who didn’t push him away when he kissed her. Instead, she kissed him back with a passion that very nearly matched his own.
Perhaps I’m only fantasizing all of it, he thought.
He’d also heard of burying a victim in the ground up to their neck, then covering them with tree syrup and allowing a nest of hungry beetles to consume them slowly.
That would be nice.
Or perhaps Magnus would remove Kurtis’s remaining hand. Saw it off slowly with a dull knife. Or a spoon.
Yes, a spoon.
He needed food. Drink.
Vengeance.
But first and most importantly, he needed to know that Cleo was safe.
Paelsians burned their dead.
Auranians worshipped the goddess of fire and air, so one would think they would fsuavor the Paelsian burial ritual. But rich Auranians favored coffins chiseled from marble, while those of lower status chose wooden boxes.
“Kurtis had me buried like an Auranian peasant,” Magnus muttered.
Surely, this had to be the former kingsliege’s final insult.
“I think I scared him.”
She nodded. “You can be very scary.”
“Yes. And I can also be scared. And I am, right now.” Magnus took her hands in his, his gaze locking with hers. “I want to help you.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I know.”
“What do we do, Cleo?” He hated the weakness that had crept into his voice. “How am I supposed to save you from this?”
“Ashur,” Magnus said with an impatient sigh. I’m going to the palace now. Are you going to join me, or do you wish to call out names while sacrificing random forest creatures?”
“You don’t believe,” Ashur said.
“What I believe is irrelevant. What I need is to get to Cleo.”
He knew she was angry with him for scaring Bruno, for acting disrespectful and ungrateful toward Ashur. For wanting to crush anything that stood in the way of finding the answers he needed to save the girl standing before him.
To hell with the rest of the world; Cleo was all he cared about.
“We cannot be stopped. We are eternal. We are life itself. And we will do anything to survive.”
“Actually, that was one of my fantasies while in that hateful coffin: marrying you under the blue sky of Auranos in a field of beautiful flowers.”
“Magnus loved you. He fought for you. He defied me again and again in order to save you, even if it meant his own destruction. He was worthy of you in a way that I was never worthy of Elena. I see that now. And for that alone, you must survive this, Cleiona Bellos.”
I've found that in my life that love and attraction can take many forms. And if one is open to unexpected possibilities, there are no boundaries. (copied from Goodreads 😆)I failed to see why Morgan Rhodes delayed this book to "make it more memorable" for us readers. It was good. But not in the way it should have been. I am not satisfied. I read this two months ago. I don’t remember few things I wanted to talk about. And I didn't take any notes. Anyway, I'm still gonna review it.