Sorrow And Starlight Quotes

Flushed with starlight and moonlight drowned, All the dreamers are castle-bound. At midnight’s stroke, we will unwind, Revealing fantasies soft or unkind. Show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.

She thought of Akiva, the night he had come to her at the river, the crushing pain and shame in his face, and love, still love - sorrow and love and hope - and she remembered the night of the Warlord's ball, how Akiva had always been the right to Thiago's wrong, the heat to the Wolf's chill, the safety to this monster's menace.

I loved you when your soul shone with all the starlight in the night sky, and I’ll love you now when your soul is the blackest you’ve ever known. I will love you whole and I’ll love you in pieces. It doesn’t matter, light or dark, I am here.

The leaves were long, the grass was green, The hemlock-umbels tall and fair, And in the glade a light was seen Of stars in shadow shimmering. Tinuviel was dancing there To music of a pipe unseen, And light of stars was in her hair, And in her raiment glimmering. There Beren came from mountains cold, And lost he wandered under leaves, And where the Elven-river rolled. He walked along and sorrowing. He peered between the hemlock-leaves And saw in wonder flowers of gold Upon her mantle and her sleeves, And her hair like shadow following. Enchantment healed his weary feet That over hills were doomed to roam; And forth he hastened, strong and fleet, And grasped at moonbeams glistening. Through woven woods in Elvenhome She lightly fled on dancing feet, And left him lonely still to roam In the silent forest listening. He heard there oft the flying sound Of feet as light as linden-leaves, Or music welling underground, In hidden hollows quavering. Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves, And one by one with sighing sound Whispering fell the beechen leaves In the wintry woodland wavering. He sought her ever, wandering far Where leaves of years were thickly strewn, By light of moon and ray of star In frosty heavens shivering. Her mantle glinted in the moon, As on a hill-top high and far She danced, and at her feet was strewn A mist of silver quivering. When winter passed, she came again, And her song released the sudden spring, Like rising lark, and falling rain, And melting water bubbling. He saw the elven-flowers spring About her feet, and healed again He longed by her to dance and sing Upon the grass untroubling. Again she fled, but swift he came. Tinuviel! Tinuviel! He called her by her elvish name; And there she halted listening. One moment stood she, and a spell His voice laid on her: Beren came, And doom fell on Tinuviel That in his arms lay glistening. As Beren looked into her eyes Within the shadows of her hair, The trembling starlight of the skies He saw there mirrored shimmering. Tinuviel the elven-fair, Immortal maiden elven-wise, About him cast her shadowy hair And arms like silver glimmering. Long was the way that fate them bore, O'er stony mountains cold and grey, Through halls of iron and darkling door, And woods of nightshade morrowless. The Sundering Seas between them lay, And yet at last they met once more, And long ago they passed away In the forest singing sorrowless.

We are born of salt and starlight.

You’re Darius Vega now. And you weren’t built to bow to anyone.

The thump of Darius’s heartbeat rang out in perfect synchronicity with my own because it was my own. One heart. One life. Never to be parted again.

Long live the motherfucking Queens.

I have no idea where you might hang it," I said, "but I wanted you to have it." To see. For on that painting, I'd shown him what I had not revealed to anyone. What the Ouroboros had revealed to me: the creature inside myself, the creature full of hate and regret and love and sacrifice, the creature that could be cruel and brave, sorrowful and joyous. I gave him me - as no one but him would ever see me. No one but him would ever understand.

There is only him. Endlessly. Always.

I’ll always come back to you, Blue,

Seth tightened his jaw and gave me the most aggressive peace sign I had ever seen in my life.

Regret is the enemy of the future.

I was too angry for subtle, too full of rage for calm, I had no patience for clever, nor the time for caution. I was fury given wings, grief given strength and power given life.

Let me bleed for you, my Queen. It would be a fucking honour.

Know yourself and own every piece of who you are.

You can move the sky if you want it enough, but you must banish all doubt from your heart, because it will steal that power from you.

Real family were the people who earned their place in your life, not the ones who demanded things of you just because you were tethered to them by blood.

I cupped Darius’s jaw in my hand and found his cold lips for the final time, kissing him softly and exhaling my love for him into the air which surrounded us, as I forced myself to release him. “Your soul is bound to mine,” I breathed against his mouth, even though I knew he was no longer there to hear my words, but a dark and unknown energy seemed to stir the air itself at that vow. “And I won’t rest until I make every star in the heavens fall for trying to cleave us apart.

So only I, my queen, the three mostly irrelevant Heirs to nothing,

There was only him. Now and always. Until our hearts stopped beating and we crossed beyond the Veil once more.

We must feel the bad as deeply as the sea, for then we are able to feel the joy as high as the moon.

Darius Vega is the greatest Dragon who ever lived,” I spoke loud and clear, making Lionel fall deathly still. “What did you just call him?” he asked venomously, danger thick in the air. “He married Tory. She is more powerful than him, so that made him a Vega,

She’s every good thing I forgot existed in this world.

I offer myself to you. In any way that I can be of service to you in fulfilling that vow, I offer it. Through blood, duty, honour or sacrifice, I am yours to command in pursuit of this end.

I was too angry for subtle, too full of rage for calm, I had no patience for clever, nor the time for caution. I was fury given wings, grief given strength and power given life. Whoever awaited us in that place would be better off running than trying to stand against the hell I brought with me now.

Yes, I expected a happy fucking ending,” I snarled. “I expected a tale where the beast was defeated, the treasure was claimed, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Married and widowed in the same day.

She was the centre of the universe, a goddess who ruled me, and I gladly submitted to that rule. She was fury and light and a taste so sweet I would never forget it.

I pledge my life in your service,” Caleb said loudly, silence echoing out once more as the crowd seemed to grow and grow, pressing in on us from all sides as this momentous act unfurled before them.

I cursed them,” she replied simply, like there was anything simple about that idea. “Each and every one of them. I cursed them and I swore to rip my fate from their clutches no matter the cost to me or my soul. I’ll see them burn, Caleb. And I’ll find him again in this life or the next before I’m done.

By the moon, you don’t even know anything, do you? Darion. As in Darcy and Orion. Dar-ion. It’s their couple name. Like you guys would be…Xavylia. And Tory and Darius are Torius-” His expression grew tight and he barrelled on. “Geraldine and Max are Maxaldine. And well, obviously we’re not a couple and never would be or anything, but just for shits and giggles as we’re the only ones left out, Caleb and I would be Saleb. Everyone caught up now?” he asked in frustration, and we nodded as one.

Remember me when faded illumination transcends my name- Remarks are heard with beating silence and I am born on tranquil starlight-

Is this our Titanic moment?” he murmured, and I sniggered before kicking off the ground and carrying him high above the treeline.

Hello, wife,

Remember to own your actions. When wielding a weapon greater than any should call their own, only the strength of your heart can guide it, only the power of your will can contain it. Know yourself and own every piece of who you are. I am sure you won’t ever fail the way I have,

but I had loved him first, and I wasn’t going to let that love turn to bitterness. It may have been unrequited, but that didn’t make it invalid. Though that didn’t make it hurt any less.

This is a bad idea. I’m angry, Blue, so fucking angry at the world. I’ve got a whole lot of pent-up energy in my veins that I want to let out.” “I can handle it,” she growled. “Show me the devil in you.

I’ll be back,” I murmured to Darius, though I knew he neither heard me nor cared what happened to his body anymore. But I wasn’t going to leave him there, laying in the mud for the crows to find, like he was nothing.

I’d thought grief would be louder than this. It felt like there should have been people screaming, thousands of fists hammering at the walls, thunder cracking through the sky. But if anything, things were quieter. More still.

If you want me on my knees for you, Caleb,” he said low and deep. “Then you’d better put me there. You’d better make me take your cock like a good pup. You’d better make me taste every damn drop of you and use me like you promised me you wanted to.

I was trembling, my body spent, energy sapped, and all I wanted was to sink back down and lay beside Darius once more, give in to the exhaustion that was swamping me, and just let go of everything. But I knew I couldn’t do that. I didn’t have the luxury of being able to let my grief consume me.

When all hope is lost, and the darkest night descends, remember the promises that bind. When the dove bleeds for love, the shadow will meet the warrior. A hound will bay for vengeance where the rift drinks deep. One chance awaits. The king may fall on the day the Hydra bellows in a spiteful palace.

My love for her is selfish,” I snarled in agreement. “And I’m no hero. Perhaps if I was, I would sacrifice myself here and now, lay down my life in the hopes that it might buy her the freedom you claim it would. That it might leave her free to rule without me, to love without me, to just fucking be without me. But my death would be the destruction of the beauty in her soul. My end would be the ruin of all the light in her world. So no, I won’t sacrifice myself so that the world can have more of her. I’d rather sacrifice the world itself, just so that I can be there to make sure I see her when she rises up to claim it. By her side, where I belong. Two halves of one fucking whole. And if you don’t know that much about me, then you aren’t me at all.

Nothing in this world could break me the way you can, Gerry,” I admitted roughly. “Nothing could make me falter or blink other than the need to protect you. I can’t watch them lash you to this thing with us. It would rip the last pieces of me free of my body and destroy them more certainly than anything else.

Take me to Davy Jones’ Locker, and plunder my treasure chest with your sea cucumber.

Ravish me like a knight of the Esterburn army. Seize me like the Castle of Norington and plunge your weapon into my moat,

I think you’re to blame for that, Professor. You taught me that the punishment for being bad, is so very, very…good.

I am Geraldine Gundellifus Gabolia Gundestria Grus,

Darius knows where we are. He’ll come back.

Darius is dead.

Twinkle Stud.

returned the fucking peace sign, feeling like a damn idiot,

A.S.S. costume for Washer.

I heard Lavinia speaking to me softly, “It’s over, Princess. Give in to the shadows, they’ve already won.

That’s not the way Faery tales go. The endings are always brutal and bloody, and no one walks away from them unscathed. Especially not the main characters.

I mean it, Gerry. We’ll work all of that out. I want you. Only you. The other shit is just politics.

Long live the true Queens!” Geraldine bayed. Her words were echoed by everyone just as the sun crested the horizon and we were gilded in the first rays of dawn.

It’s time to rise, Solaria. For the good of our kingdom. Long Live the Vega Queens.

You’re my saviour, my felon, my sinister knight. And if you don’t touch me this second, I’ll go mad.

Phoenix fire erupted wherever my feet fell, the entire world bursting into flames at my back, and I let it all burn.

I knew the taste of love once, a very long time ago. Love exposes you; it makes you a fool,” she hissed. “Then I am a fool,” I said hollowly.

Death will release you,” my mother whispered, eyes on me, full of love and I bellowed in anguish.

There is only him,” I swore and with that vow, my power broke, crashing from me, through him and into the very heart of death itself.

Well, that’s a problem, Roxy, because I won’t ever be done with you,” he swore and goddamn him, I fucking blushed.

This was goodbye. And the song was ending. “I love you, Roxanya Vega, and I wish I could have been worthy of you.

If you can love a monster unconditionally then that makes you a monster too.

loved you when your soul shone with all the starlight in the night sky, and I’ll love you now when your soul is the blackest you’ve ever known. I will love you whole and I’ll love you in pieces.

Death. That was all that was left to me now. I was cast adrift in my grief and swallowed whole by my rage. There had never been a creature born of such fury as me, let alone one so powerful and vengeful.

Why don’t you run along and find your lover boy?” he sneered. “Are you going to tell him about how you spread your legs for me the other night and moaned my name like it was your favourite star in the sky?

Could have rolled his sleeve back and touched his arm, but whatever Trevor. I wasn’t the touching police. If the touching police were here, they might have a thing or two to say about it, but that wasn’t anything to do with me.

I stomped my foot down on the ferry with that final word, power erupting from me as the wooden raft bucked wildly beneath my feet and the ferryman screamed as he was thrown from it, the roiling water hissing and spitting as he plunged into it.

We can’t die,” Cal said a little breathlessly. “We’re Bitey C, Wolfman, and Fish Fury.” “You remembered,” Seth gasped. “Of course I fucking remembered.” Caleb scruffed Seth’s long hair and I managed an actual laugh, shoving Seth in the shoulder.

I suggest you stop believing in nonsense like that, Princess,” he said, his voice low and rough. “That’s not the way Faery tales go. The endings are always brutal and bloody, and no one walks away from them unscathed. Especially not the main characters.

My life is bound to his. His death bound to mine. One heart….” I panted heavily, my legs caving and nothing but Darius’s grip on me holding me upright. “One life…” I collapsed as power ripped me apart from the inside out, but he was there, holding me up,

I would be your sword to fight your enemies, your shield to protect your people, your monster to own and to wield. I would be yours in any and all of the ways I could be, and I should have told you that a long, long time ago. I am your creature, your servant…yours.

No cost is greater than the loss of you,” I replied as the world hissed, the acidic whispers of the stars closing in on us. Stealer of life. Twister of destiny. Beware the cost. Turn from this path. Stop before you unbalance the scales. His ascension will bear a price.

You lied to me,” I said to my own reflection, though the words were intended for him. “You promised you’d stay.” Nothing. Endless, hopeless, nothing. Even the ruby pendant which hung from my throat remained cool against my skin, like he was further away than ever today.

For on that painting, I’d shown him what I had not revealed to anyone. What the Ouroboros had revealed to me: the creature inside myself, the creature full of hate and regret and love and sacrifice, the creature that could be cruel and brave, sorrowful and joyous. I gave him me—as no one but him would ever see me. No one but him would ever understand. “It’s beautiful,” he said, voice still hoarse. I blinked away the tears that threatened at those words and leaned into the kiss he pressed to my mouth. You are beautiful, he whispered down the bond.

As if turning a blind eye to us and all the horrors of this place somehow made him less responsible for it. But cruelty still happened whether you acknowledged it or not. Wasn’t pretending it didn’t exist just giving the monsters of this world license to carry on being monsters?

Your soul is bound to mine,” I breathed against his mouth, even though I knew he was no longer there to hear my words, but a dark and unknown energy seemed to stir the air itself at that vow. “And I won’t rest until I make every star in the heavens fall for trying to cleave us apart.

Darius,” he began, wincing at the name which drove a dagger through my heart, before forcing himself to go on. “Darius would want us to keep fighting. To help the rebels regroup and-” I shot to my feet, abandoning him in the bed as I crossed the room in a blur of motion, carving a hand through my matted curls and shaking my head. “No,” I growled, turning my back on him, and refusing those words. I couldn’t just get up and go on as if nothing had changed, as if his death made no difference to any of it. “Cal.” The crack in Seth’s voice made me turn to look at him.

I wouldn’t tell them about Darius yet, not while we needed to focus on escaping this place before Lionel could show up. I had no doubt someone would get word to him of my attack on his home soon enough, and as much as I ached for a taste of his blood, I knew I wouldn’t win that battle today.

Her hair, which had been a bland and forgettable colour before, had been dyed a deep, blood red, the furious set to her features letting me know that it was a promise of its own, to see the blood of her enemies spilled in payment for the losses she’d suffered in that battle. It suited her, the colour matching with the fire which burned unwaveringly within her soul, bright and brutal and wholly her. “I do,” I agreed. “Then I am coming with you. My Maxy boy awaits me, and I shall bay for vengeance on behalf of my dear Daddy while ripping the throats from our enemies as we retrieve him.

Because I am your mother. And I love you more than life itself,” she exhaled then drove the dagger into her chest, a scream leaving her as she used the strength of her Order to carve her heart from the cavity of her ribs and yanked it out of her own body, skewered on the blade as she held it before her.

Family loves without condition. I’ve forged my own family through determination, sacrifice, and dedication. They aren’t my blood, but they are bound to me deeper than you will ever be. You don’t just get to love me and expect that to be enough. True love is built on everything that exists outside of the

would claim him this day, and nevermore would I seek the loins of another codfish. For he was my one true salmon, and the rivers of our destiny were wide and flowing toward an eternal horizon. It was time to bathe in our estuary and sup upon the freshwater, and may all those who opposed us perish on my flail.

I would claim him this day, and nevermore would I seek the loins of another codfish. For he was my one true salmon, and the rivers of our destiny were wide and flowing toward an eternal horizon. It was time to bathe in our estuary and sup upon the freshwater, and may all those who opposed us perish on my flail.

I had twisted Hail Vega into a creature of violence who everyone in Solaria feared, and I had seen the effectiveness of that. It was time I truly donned his crown and took his title upon myself. For it had always been me behind his greatness anyway. I was the Dragon Lord, Lionel Acrux, and I was the true Savage King.

I hurried down the corridor at his back with Orion beside me and he leaned low to speak in my ear. “You will marry me.” “You know, people usually ask someone if they want to marry them, not just command it,” I whispered. “You’re already mated to me by the stars, what’s there to ask?” “Just because we’re mated doesn’t mean you get to skip a proposal.” I shot him a sharp look. “So you’d better ask really, really nicely the next time you bring this up. And I am making no promises that I’ll say yes.” “Or that I’ll agree to it,” Gabriel tossed back over his shoulder. “And since when do I have to ask your permission?” Orion asked in shock. “I second that question,” I called to him.

The cut on my palm burned as my grip tightened on the hilt of my sword, the pain centring me in that moment, reminding me that I was still alive, no matter how wretched and pointless that life might be. I was cold. Perpetually cold in a way I knew would never leave me, the fire which had been my love for Darius Acrux no longer heating my veins.

I pledge my life to your service.” His words were like a summoning and suddenly they were all there, Caleb falling to his knees at Darius’s side, his navy eyes wide with amazement as he looked first to his lost brother, then to Darcy and I who stood shell shocked, hand in hand, in the wake of that terrible power we had just summoned to save us all.

For on that painting, I’d shown him what I had not revealed to anyone. What the Ouroboros had revealed to me: the creature inside myself, the creature full of hate and regret and love and sacrifice, the creature that could be cruel and brave, sorrowful and joyous. I gave him me—as no one but him would ever see me. No one but him would ever understand.

True love is built on everything that exists outside of the word. It’s showing up when you’re needed, no matter the inconvenience. It’s knowing someone, truly knowing them, and accepting everything they are even where you differ or clash. It’s making effort despite the differences, it’s apologies when they’re owed and forgiveness even when it feels impossible.

But that smile turned to ice as it splintered across my lips, a sucker punch to my heart damn near making me double over right there and then as I thought of Darius and imagined his booming laugh while he took part in this carnage with me. He deserved to have been here, to have ransacked this hell he’d been born into and to have stolen the hoard of his piece of shit father.

The clouds shifted and the heavy beating of huge wings sounded, making me turn towards it instinctively, my ears twitching with the familiarity of that noise. My heart lurched and a glint of gold made me fly that way, seeking out my brother in the clouds, breathing in the scent of smoke on the air, certain he was here. Maybe not in any corporeal way, but the ghost of him was present, I could sense him everywhere.

Not a possession, no. But you are mine. You were mine before we met, and mine the minute we locked eyes. You are mine in this life, and every life we may experience from this point forward. You are mine in every reality you exist, and mine in every reality you don’t. And I am yours in kind, in every way you can imagine. I will gladly be your possession, but I will also be your guardian, your keeper, your protector.

You don’t just get to love me and expect that to be enough. True love is built on everything that exists outside of the word. It’s showing up when you’re needed, no matter the inconvenience. It’s knowing someone, truly knowing them, and accepting everything they are even where you differ or clash. It’s making effort despite the differences, it’s apologies when they’re owed and forgiveness even when it feels impossible.

I ignored the words. “How.” I gestured to the loom, the half-finished piece taking form on its frame, the art on the walls. “How do you keep creating, despite what you lost?” Whether she noted the crack in my voice, she didn’t let on. The weaver only said, her sad, sorrowful gaze meeting mine, “I have to.” The simple words hit me like a blow. The weaver went on, “I have to create, or it was all for nothing. I have to create, or I will crumple up with despair and never leave my bed. I have to create because I have no other way of voicing this.” Her hand rested on her heart, and my eyes burned. “It is

And there were Mor and Azriel- and Cassian. The three of them dancing together, Mor's head tipped back to the sky, arms up, the starlight gleaming on the pure white of her gown. Dancing as if it might be her last time, flowing between Azriel and Cassian like the three of them were one unit, one being. I looked behind me to find Rhys watching them, his face soft. Sad. Separated for fifty years, and reunited- only to be cleaved apart so soon to fight again for their freedom. Rhys caught my gaze and said, 'Come. There's a better view. Quieter.' He held a hand out to me.' That sorrow, the weight, lingered in his eyes. And I couldn't bear to see it- just as I couldn't bear to see my three friends dancing together as if it was the last time they'd ever do it.

Then I offer myself to you,” I swore in a low and steady voice, whispering my next words because they felt so important. “In any way that I can be of service to you in fulfilling that vow, I offer it. Through blood, duty, honour, or sacrifice, I am yours to command in pursuit of this end.” Tory released a shuddering breath and a single tear fell from her eye, rolling down her cheek before splashing against the back of her burning hot hand where it lay over my heart. “There isn’t a depth I won’t fall to for this,” she warned me, and I nodded. “Then I’m ready to fall at your side.” I wasn’t certain if it was intentional or not, but magic flared between us where our entwined hands lay against my heart, that promise becoming binding as the stars took note of it; and whether we sought their approval or scorned it, it didn’t matter now. It was done.

I wanted to reach for her, kiss her, tell her…all the things that words could never encompass. But there was something I needed to do for her before I could attempt any of that. I drew the glimmering sword from my hip in a fluid movement before placing its tip against the ground between us and dropping to one knee in front of her. A tremor rumbled through the Veil as my knee hit the ground and I clasped the pommel of my sword as I bowed my head before her, my limbs trembling with the magnitude of this action, of what I had known and should have admitted for a long time now. “I pledge myself and all that I am to you, my Queen,” I breathed, emotion wracking my core as those words tumbled from me at last, my place in this world somehow fixing there as if I had found the truth of my own destiny, and all that I had ever needed to be. “I would be your sword to fight your enemies, your shield to protect your people, your monster to own and to wield. I would be yours in any and all of the ways I could be, and I should have told you that a long, long time ago. I am your creature, your servant…yours.

I met my husband’s eyes as he dropped to one knee before us, placing the head of his axe against the ground and bowing his head low before us. “I pledge my life to your service.” His words were like a summoning and suddenly they were all there, Caleb falling to his knees at Darius’s side, his navy eyes wide with amazement as he looked first to his lost brother, then to Darcy and I who stood shell shocked, hand in hand, in the wake of that terrible power we had just summoned to save us all. “I pledge my life in your service,” Caleb said loudly, silence echoing out once more as the crowd seemed to grow and grow, pressing in on us from all sides as this momentous act unfurled before them. “I pledge my life in your service,” Max echoed, falling to his knees on Darius’s other side, his head lowering, and the overwhelming feeling of love and respect that flooded from him almost floored me. Darcy’s hand tightened around mine, the two of us too stunned to do more than just stare at the final Heir as he stepped forward, looking between the two of us and the impossibility of Darius’s return before he fell to his knees on Caleb’s other side. “I pledge my life in your service,” Seth breathed almost reverently, and I sucked in a sharp breath as heat began to grow in my chest.

You had to know I would have done anything for you," Sorrow, so deep and pure I could taste it filled his gaze. "I would have betrayed my mother, my king, at your word, your wish, your barest desire— had any of it been real.

You had to know I would have done anything for you.” Sorrow, so deep and pure I could taste it, filled his gaze. “I would have betrayed my mother, my king, at your word, your wish, your barest desire—had any of it been real.

Nobody in Goldbrooke thought Lilac was missing any more. They all believed her dead, but Clover refused to accept it. So she turned away from her father's deepening sorrow, and her stepmother's cruel insistence, and made her own plans. Those plans began with the troubadour.

I looked into the mirror and smoothed out the voluptuous folds of my virginal white dress, taking a moment to comb my moustache.

I had a will of iron and mental shields more impenetrable than my closely guarded vagina – destined only for the use of a Dragon of purest blood and honour.

Oh my stars…I’m a switch.

We aren’t damsels in distress, we didn’t ask you to do any of this shit, and I’m so fucking sick of having to clean up the mess your knight-in-shining-armour routines keep causing!

Wide. Awake. That was me. Sleeping was the game, losing was my name.

Take me and use me and make me forget all the shit in this world for a little while. I’ll be a good pup for you if that’s what you need. Just promise you’ll be rough with me while I’m yours. My heart can’t take tender right now.

Don’t treat me like I’m breakable. I want you to remind me I’m Fae, that I’m shatterproof.” “Is that an order?

Just for me,” I said in a gruff voice, urging a confirmation from her. “Only you,” she swore,

My gaze slipped down to his Speedos and I inhaled sharply as I spotted a smooth, waxed ball hanging out one side of it.

There’ll be no feasting on my flames tonight you blaggards! So take that and stuff it up your jumper!” My cheeks flushed pink at the foul words as they escaped my lips, but there it was, the brute in me awoken and set free for all the world to see.

No words passed between us as we knelt there, our pain too raw and brutal to put into words as our love for our fallen brother broke each and every one of us beyond repair.

I pressed my forehead to his as Tiberius guided me into sleep, and even though the world had just fallen apart beneath me and cut me adrift into an endlessly dark sky, I found myself tethered by my grip on Seth’s hand, one tiny point of light amid a sea of misery.

We knew what Lionel was doing to him in that fucking manor. For years we knew, even if he couldn’t tell us outright, and we did nothing.

Fuck you, Cal,” he choked out around the tightness of my hold. I bared my teeth at him, wanting his pain, his anger, anything at all other than facing the abyss of Darius’s loss which waited with open jaws, hungering for me with every passing second. “Fuck you, Seth,” I snarled right back.

I knew how this ended. Knew it didn’t mean the same thing to him as it did to me, but right now, I didn’t care. I was so lost in the sea of this pain that I just needed to feel something else. Even if I knew it wasn’t real, that his heart didn’t ache for mine the way mine beat only for his.

Mine. In here, right now, he was mine, and I didn’t care what that meant for after.

Yeah,” he spat bitterly. “That’s what I do. I just want to make sure we’re clear on that before you go making any dumb decisions like falling in love with me.

And I wanted to be cosy. Cosy and safe and free of demon vaginas forever.

It wasn’t even like a vagina really. Vaginas were great. It was like…the anti-vagina.

Venus in retrograde is also the perfect time to reflect on the loves of the past, the mistakes we’ve made in relationships, and it is a chance for rebirth. A time to start anew in matters of the heart. As an added bonus, we’ll all feel a little bit horny.

Well bend me over and call me a bridge between two towers – there’s no way I’m picking! #ridemyhighway #Idontmindifyouhighfive #twowaystreet #bridgebros #twoHeirsinmythoroughfare #theresnotollonthisbridge

And I am yours in kind, in every way you can imagine. I will gladly be your possession, but I will also be your guardian, your keeper, your protector. And I will do whatever I can to turn you away from danger, because it is impossible for me not to.

He cocked his head. “So, you want my knowledge, but you won’t describe the Donum Magicae to me.” “Alright, I’ll try.” I grinned. “Imagine a really, really, really shiny rock.

Look,” I began, picking a lump of tentacle from my arm and tossing it to the floor just in front of the librarians’ feet. “I’ve had one hell of a time recently. I’ve been captured and tortured, brutalised and traumatised. I’ve been married and widowed, fought and defeated. And to top it all off, I have been without the other half of my soul for over a week now. To put it lightly, I’ve reached my limit. So I’ve come a long way in search of this place and the knowledge you hold here. I’ve made that journey – and helped you out with what I would call a considerable monster infestation in your lake by the way – and now I’m standing here before you, covered in fuck knows what, my power depleted and my tether on my temper running dangerously short. I have absolutely no intention of letting you simply shut that door in my motherfucking face. So, I’m posing that you need to think again on the subject of that invitation.

I’m looking at the woman who crossed into death for me,” he replied, his tone rough with a reverence I didn’t deserve. “The woman whose heart found it possible to love me even though I could never be worthy of it. You cursed the stars themselves for me and forced them to bend to your will. You risked dark magic and death before your oath was fulfilled, you bound your own heart to mine so that you could haul me back here to you.

I’m selfish enough to bind your heart to mine because that means I will never face losing you again. Our lives are linked and so our souls are bound as one too. If death takes either of us now, it will collect us both and I’m okay with that.

But cruelty still happened whether you acknowledged it or not. Wasn’t pretending it didn’t exist just giving the monsters of this world license to carry on being monsters?

How do you keep creating, despite what you lost?” Whether she noted the crack in my voice, she didn’t let on. The weaver only said, her sad, sorrowful gaze meeting mine, “I have to.

I said, knowing full well that Dick Rot Dave could hear me and not caring.

he cried out in fury as he went spinning past my head like an ass tornado.

We are at war, Lavinia,

If you love me, then why do you not touch me anymore?” “We are at war, Lavinia,

The past should be where we learn from our mistakes, the future is open to all new possibilities.

Flushed with starlight and moonlight drowned, All the dreamers are castle-bound. At midnight’s stroke, we will unwind, Revealing fantasies soft or unkind. Show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.

I wasn’t being held like a baby at all – I was a motherfucking purse hanging limp beneath a grandma’s arm.

You can’t go to war with a bagel on your cock. As your bestie, I can’t let you.

A noise left her that was somewhere between a gurgling sink and a baby dolphin,

Take my hand and find me here. I live in the wind and grass, my dear. So when you need me, call my name. You’ll feel me close within the rain. For I, for I, for I, will wait beyond the Veil for you. But please, my love, don’t wait for me. My time is done, my seeds are sown. So live a life of joy and love, and I’ll be watching up above. The greatest show has just begun, my seat is taken, my song is sung. I’ll smile with every smile you take, I’ll laugh with you when times are great. So live for me, and live for you. I’ll see you in the star’s lagoon…I’ll see you in the star’s lagoon.

When all hope is lost, and the darkest night descends, remember the promises that bind. When the dove bleeds for love, the shadow will meet the warrior.

How do you keep creating, despite what you lost?” Whether she noted the crack in my voice, she didn’t let on. The weaver only said, her sad, sorrowful gaze meeting mine, “I have to.” The simple words hit me like a blow. The weaver went on, “I have to create, or it was all for nothing. I have to create, or I will crumple up with despair and never leave my bed. I have to create because I have no other way of voicing this.

**Verse 1:** I've got the blues, they're settin' in, Like a slow train comin' 'round the bend. My heart's heavy like boots in mud, Life's dealt a hand, and it ain't good. **Chorus:** I'm down, but not out, in this lonesome town, My spirit's low, but I ain't gonna drown. I'll sing my sorrows to the prairie wind, 'Til I find my way up once again. **Verse 2:** The whiskey whispers and the guitar cries, Telling tales of how time flies. Lost my love, lost my way, But I'll find the strength to face the day. **Chorus:** I'm down, but not out, in this lonesome town, My spirit's low, but I ain't gonna drown. I'll sing my sorrows to the prairie wind, 'Til I find my way up once again. **Bridge:** In the quiet of the night, under the starlight, I find hope in the pale moon's glow. The road is long, but my will is strong, I'll rise again, this I know. **Chorus:** I'm down, but not out, in this lonesome town, My spirit's low, but I ain't gonna drown. I'll sing my sorrows to the prairie wind, 'Til I find my way up once again. **Outro:** So here's to the down, but not defeated, To the hearts that keep on beatin'. In the end, we'll stand tall, 'Cause being down ain't the end at all.

Take my hand and find me here. I live in the wind and grass, my dear. So when you need me, call my name. You’ll feel me close within the rain. For I, for I, for I, will wait beyond the Veil for you. But please, my love, don’t wait for me. My time is done, my seeds are sown. So live a life of joy and love, and I’ll be watching up above. The greatest show has just begun, my seat is taken, my song is sung. I’ll smile with every smile you

take, I’ll laugh with you when times are great. So live for me, and live for you. I’ll see you in the star’s lagoon…I’ll see you in the star’s lagoon.

Darius Vega is the greatest Dragon who ever lived,” I spoke loud and clear, making Lionel fall deathly still.

I love you so much, I don’t know how my heart contains it all.

You are mine in this life, and every life we may experience from this point forward. You are mine in every reality you exist, and mine in every reality you don’t. And I am yours in kind, in every way you can imagine.

I loved you when your soul shone with all the starlight in the night sky, and I’ll love you now when your soul is the blackest you’ve ever known. I will love you whole and I’ll love you in pieces. It doesn’t matter, light or dark, I am here. That is what mates are for. It’s what I’m made to be for you by the stars themselves, so stop trying to shut me out.

Lance Orion may have been mated to another woman, but I had loved him first, and I wasn’t going to let that love turn to bitterness. It may have been unrequited, but that didn’t make it invalid. Though that didn’t make it hurt any less.

I was set free of my body, set free of my chains and every regret I had ever had over Lance Orion. Because my fate was set. My life was over. And there was no chance left for me to change a single decision or path I’d taken.

I would take any pain and more for him. It was my bane, an anchor hanging my neck which I’d never found a way free of.

Just being with him had always felt like the right place to be. But those days were gone, never to return, and I hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye.

I could feel that in the weight of the air and the pressure of the silence. Death had come to this place and feasted well.

The world was still here, harmony encompassing every bit of the surrounding landscape in a way that was alien and yet alluring all at once. It was as if nothing resided here beyond the solitude and wilderness, this oasis of calm lost within a world I knew was fraught with war and suffering.

She was mine, my one good thing, the keeper of my heart and the shackles surrounding my soul.

A tremor rumbled through the Veil as my knee hit the ground and I clasped the pommel of my sword as I bowed my head before her, my limbs trembling with the magnitude of this action, of what I had known and should have admitted for a long time now. “I pledge myself and all that I am to you, my Queen,

Pain was meant to be felt, just as all emotions were. And as my Daddypops always said, “We must feel the bad as deeply as the sea, for then we are able to feel the joy as high as the moon.

grotesque creature arrived, scuttling across the ceiling, its features sharp among the shadow it was clearly made of. It was as big as a Dragon Shifter, its hulking form falling from the ceiling and landing with a thump at Lavinia’s side. I fought the urge to recoil as the shadows sank into the thing’s skin, a man slowly appearing from the darkness, his face a picture of handsome cruelty. A demonic smile curved his lips and a sinister emptiness stirred in his gaze. He was naked, his powerful body marked with scars of shadow which seemed to pulse like living veins against his tanned skin. “Hello, Father,” he purred, his voice a wicked seduction.

The reason I became that creature.” I pointed to the burning monster who raged across that battlefield without turning my head to look at her again. Because I had already looked, I had already seen, and I wasn’t afraid anymore. “Love.

You and me weren’t a story that was ready to end,

Those lips parted, a thousand kisses burning through my memory as I watched them, waiting, wondering if after all of it she might still think I was worthy of her. No words escaped her, not a single one and I almost smiled at that. Roxanya Vega left speechless, no venom left to spit, no rage left to break from her. I thought I’d never see the day. She took a step towards me, then another. Every inch she closed between us awakening that desperate need in me for her. She was mine, my one good thing, the keeper of my heart and the shackles surrounding my soul. I’d broken over her grief for me. I’d shattered watching her fall apart. Yet here she was, striding through the barriers of death itself to come for me. Her. Only ever her.

Until I found you by Stephen Sanchez started playing at little more than a thought from me and I offered her my hand. One more song. The wedding dance we should have had. The beginning we’d been denied. Roxy hesitated as she looked at my hand and I knew that she knew. One song. A few minutes stolen before it would be over. Before we had to face this goodbye and I would go back to waiting for her while she returned to the life she still needed to live.

What is selfless and selfish. Kind and cruel. Endless and fickle. Priceless and without cost. The harbinger of war and the one thing which can end it just as surely?” the ferryman asked, his words a taunt as the riddle washed over me and I just shook my head, having no idea what he meant. “What is excuse and reason. Validation and violence. Need and demand?” “I don’t know,” I replied, and his laughter was cruel and cold. “Yes, you do.

The terror in their eyes had me breaking into a run as I drew my axe once more and I couldn’t help but notice my boot landing on the Death card like it was welcoming me to the fray. “You will pay in blood and carnage,” a voice hissed on the wind, and I got the feeling the stars were watching this all too closely. But as I fell into the dance of battle once again, I found I didn’t give a fuck about that, because the swing of my axe felt too fucking good.

But aren’t you all supposed to be neutral in every fate you offer?” I accused. “They’re not neutral. They do what they want, whatever entertains them most,” Tory growled. “We seek harmony in all things. We right the tipping of the scales, forever seeking a point of bliss. We have no need nor use for sentiment or feeling. Right or wrong. A star should never be corrupted, it should not be possible within the realms of all that is. But Clydinius was the exception.” “Bullshit,” Tory snarled. “You’re all the same. If you were about fairness, then we wouldn’t have had to go through all of this.” “It is not us who cursed you so,” the stars whispered, and I felt the truth of those words ringing to the centre of me, like I’d known it all along and yet I’d never been able to grasp that knowledge until now. “Clydinius cursed us,” I said, seeing the real depths of that truth now. It went beyond these stars, disrupting any plans they might have chosen to lay in place for us. I could feel that intangible power thrumming in the air and almost sensed the binds of the curse anchoring my soul to the single star which had placed it upon our bloodline.

What’s the broken promise?” I asked in desperation. “If we keep it, we’ll break the curse, right? We can restore the balance.” “Yes, daughter of the flames,” they answered. “Queens crowned, a kingdom kneeling at your feet. A choice lays in your hands now.” “What choice?” Tory demanded. The darkness finally shifted, rippling like ink around me before I found myself standing in a memory of the past. I recognised Elvia Vega, the first Phoenix Queen, on her knees before the star, Clydinius. “The version of this memory you perceived within the Memoriae crystal was altered by Queen Avalon Vega generations after this night,” the stars revealed. “For she wished to ensure no Phoenix ever kept the promise made with the fallen star. She wished to pass the power of the Imperial Star down the Vega line to secure their position as royalty forevermore. This, daughter of the flames, is the shard of the memory that was destroyed…

was launched forward into Queen Elvia’s mind, seeing it all through her eyes once more and feeling Tory’s soul joining mine. My palm tingled painfully where it still lay against the gleaming surface of the fallen star. The brightness made me wince, my eyes hurting and a ringing growing in my ears. I screamed as it intensified, begging to be spared, unsure if I had angered it somehow. But then a part of the star cracked off in my palm, a tremendous blast of magic cutting it clean from the star itself. The light faded and I found a rough, unhewn piece of the star lying in my palm that hummed with unimaginable power, so beautiful it left me speechless. “Wield my heart, and you will win your war. But when it is done, you will return my heart to me, and use it for one final cast, as only a Fae can.” “What cast?” I breathed, fear knotting in my chest as a terrible sense of foreboding washed over me. “You will breathe life into my heart when it is returned to me. You will offer me the power to take the form of a Fae and walk among the world.” My throat thickened at the idea of that, the thought of a star living on earth seeming wholly unnatural. But power was licking at my fingers hungrily, and while the heart of the star was clutched in my fist, I couldn’t deny the temptation of it. I could win my war, and pass this gift down to my children. “If you do not return my heart, there will be dire consequences,” the star warned, and my body trembled with the omen of devastation that laced its words. “How long?” I asked. “Until it must be returned?” “A hundred years, no more. Buy you and your child the glory you crave, then have one of your bloodline offer me what I seek.” I nodded, relief setting in at knowing I could claim this power for so long. “I will make sure it is returned. And the promise is kept,” I vowed, and a snap of power struck me in the chest, binding me body and soul to that promise, leaving me breathless as it sank into my very blood. “Then it is done,” the star hissed. “Thank you,” I breathed, and those words leaving my lips set the earth quaking and the sky singing. No, not singing. That beautiful, haunting noise that hovered on the edges of my hearing was screams, the stars above trying to defy what had been done, what this star had offered me going against all nature of its kind and mine.

Tory and I were pulled from the memory and fear echoed out around me into the abyss, the stars all glittering mournfully. “You are in possession of Clydinius’s heart,” the stars whispered anxiously. “The Imperial Star longs to return to him, but if you keep the promise, you will bring about a plague upon the earth. There shall be no peace, only blight and death. We fear that Clydinius will seek to become the ultimate power of your world, and while he reigns below, we cannot reign above. All shall be lost. All shall fall.” “But if we don’t return it, if we don’t keep the promise, we’ll be cursed forever?” I said in horror. “The Vega curse will prevail,” the stars confirmed. “It shall worsen, you shall never know peace, and all those you love shall suffer at your side. We cannot intervene. The choice lays in your hands. Make the right one, daughters of the flames.

We could return it, break our curse and destroy Clydinius the second he materialises,” I suggested, and her eyes widened at that. “Kill a star?” she murmured, a smirk lifting her lips at the idea, and no matter how crazy it sounded, I was all in. It was the only option that led to us breaking our curse. “If we pull it off, we’ll be free of the curse, free of fucking Clyde and-” “And nothing will stand in our way when we attack Lionel and his army,” Tory finished for me. I stepped toward her, feeling our decision solidifying, and knowing this might be the stupidest, riskiest thing we ever did. But it was an answer to all of our problems. The stars were screaming, responding to the choice we’d made as our decision resonated out to the edges of the universe. They had no choice but to give into our wishes, unable to touch this fate. It was ours, and ours alone, and this was what we’d decided.

The power of the fallen has awoken, greed and glory blazing as one. All fates hang in the balance as the flames rise from the hollow, But the Dragon still may prosper if the paths of the enemy are thwarted. Beware the one whose name is Nox, and seek the treasures of the ancient ring. Use the stolen, ally with the might of your maker. Not all starlight gleams.

Ab ipso peto nunc et semper – his bond is mine,” Stella panted, and a flash of red light exploded between our palms, throwing her away from me as power poured from my body into hers. It was so forceful that it shattered the glass tank and Darcy was washed out of it on a tide of blood.

Why?” I gasped as she angled it towards her own heart. “Because I am your mother. And I love you more than life itself,” she exhaled then drove the dagger into her chest, a scream leaving her as she used the strength of her Order to carve her heart from the cavity of her ribs and yanked it out of her own body, skewered on the blade as she held it before her. A single moment of life remained in her eyes, and she offered that moment to me, her fingers flicking so the chains released me from the rack, and I fell to the floor. In the next second, she was dead, collapsing in the pool of blood, her body broken and the bloody knife sitting upright beside her where it was sunk deep into a still-twitching heart.

Darcy scrambled to my side, wrapping her arms around me and I knelt there in shock, unsure what to think, what to do. My heart hurt in a way I would never have expected from witnessing my mother’s demise, and I didn’t know if it was the coven bond she’d forced on me or some long lost love for her stirring in my bones. Deep down, I knew coven bonds couldn’t forge feelings as powerful as these, and I hated the way my emotions fragmented and confusion rattled my mind. I felt the collar of shadow dissolve around my throat, liberating me from the Shadow Princess’s control once and for all. My mother’s sacrifice had freed me.

Her blood was my blood,” he said in explanation. “She paid the price of your curse in her death. You’re free.” Before I could have a second to register that, the Shadow Beast collided with us, throwing Orion away from me. He tumbled over the floor, swearing as he hurried to cast air magic, but the Shadow Beast slammed into me before he could. It swung a paw for my head, and I ducked low, its claws slashing and tearing through the wall at my back instead.

The Shadow Beast prowled away from me, sniffing the air and I lifted my fingers, trying to bring magic to them, but the well in my chest was just as empty as before. Panic stole over me as I considered what that meant. Had my magic and Order been stolen forever, even though I was free of it? I flexed my hands, feeling stronger than I had in weeks, and that meant I could fight, even if only with my damn fists.

Fate changer,” the stars hissed at her. “A cost to bear, a burden worn. Will regrets shatter the foundations of your blood bound choice?” “I will never regret bringing Darius back. You stole him before his time, and I will pay whatever price I have to now,” Tory spat, her ire tainting the air. Knowing she had somehow raised Darius from the dead left me both overjoyed, and terrified of what she’d done to achieve it. But I couldn’t ask her about it now under the weight of the stars’ stares.

Clydinius believed Fae were not worthy of the greatness we gifted them, for it was wasted and spoiled in the hands of your kind, every empire rising only to surely fall. So Clydinius came to the Court of Caelestina where the fates are woven thread by thread, and destiny spins upon a coin of iron. There, he spoke treasonous words, expressing the very desire which could unbalance the bedrock of the world. Clydinius wished for us all to descend from the heavens, to claim a place upon the earth and walk among the Fae as gods. In response to this declaration, Arcturus of the Sixth House cast Clydinius from the sky, where only one fate awaited him. Or so we thought. For we were fooled… Clydinius had wished for this all along, and instead of releasing his powers upon impact with the earth, Clydinius made a deal with a Fae, breaking all the laws of old and blaspheming against the teachings of the Origin.” “The Origin?” Tory questioned. “The Origin is the beginning and end of all things. She is the giver of life, of fate, of all reality. She is the oldest star in our universe, a creator and destroyer. She set the laws of reality itself.

Caleb broke a merciless laugh. “I suggest you stop believing in nonsense like that, Princess,” he said, his voice low and rough. “That’s not the way Faery tales go. The endings are always brutal and bloody, and no one walks away from them unscathed. Especially not the main characters.

Iswung the Flail of Unending Celestial Karma into the face of a shrieking Nymph,

I can paint our picture with whatever brush you choose, and make it look however you imagine.

And it’s why Tory and I have failed time and again in this war.

Do you want me to kneel for you again, my Queen?

Yes, I expected a happy fucking ending,” I snarled. “I expected a tale where the beast was defeated, the treasure was claimed, and everyone lived happily ever after.” Caleb broke a merciless laugh. “I suggest you stop believing in nonsense like that, Princess,” he said, his voice low and rough. “That’s not the way Faery tales go. The endings are always brutal and bloody, and no one walks away from them unscathed. Especially not the main characters.

The rest of you, try not to cry too much if I don’t make it back, I was a mean bitch anyway. x

I was not going to let a small-dicked Dragon steal away my Gabe and live to tell the tale.

You are right, little starlight; every man must have a fear no matter how indomitable he thinks he is. But hear this truth, I am not every man.

It wasn’t real. But oh, how I wished it was.

You mean the one I got on your birthday the summer before you came to the academy?

A queen arrives at precisely the right moment, no matter the preferences of her subjects,

He was the beginning and end of me, creation and ruin falling into harmony,

He was more than my equal. He was my end.

everything that made up the entire universe began and ended with the two of us.

My jaw tightened at the thought and I refused it, tarot cards shifting through my mind as if I could truly see them while I shuffled the deck, casting out any which didn’t fall in our favour, determined to draw only those I wanted. The Chariot flashed through my mind and stuck there as I drew in a long breath. Vengeance, war, triumph. I would accept no other fate than that from now on.

and I knew in my soul that my brother had sent me those words. They mattered. They were likely the key to everything. Though they made little sense to me. When all hope is lost, and the darkest night descends, remember the promises that bind. When the dove bleeds for love, the shadow will meet the warrior. A hound will bay for vengeance where the rift drinks deep. One chance awaits. The king may fall on the day the Hydra bellows in a spiteful palace.

We love you, Roxanya and Gabriel to the depths of our hearts,” he said fiercely, the words resounding through the fabric of my being, stitching together some long broken thing. “Always and forever,” my mom confirmed, and tears welled in my eyes.