The Silversmith Lj Claren Quotes

There’s not a chance I’ll make it to heaven, but I pray the gods are gracious to send me to a place where I can see you. Just you.” He wound his fingers in my hair.

if I can’t spend eternity looking at you, I’d rather my soul cease to exist. You are,” he breathed, “the single most breathtaking thing in this world.

You have no idea how easily you put me on my knees.

Touch my girl, and you’ll never see that hand again.

Don’t be embarrassed to moan in your dreams, Aryella.” He leaned down to brush his lips against my ear. And then I heard the smile in that deep voice. “You do more than moan in mine.

He just clenched that hand, blood trickling out through his fingers like it was nothing. Like that pain was nothing. Nothing compared to what he felt at the thought of me with another man.

There is no limit to what a determined man will do for one remarkable woman.

My punishment for being the Gold child still living was forcing myself to read that note each day.

To him, you’re just an idea, but to me…” His hands were soft on my face before he twisted his fingers in my hair. “You are the air in my lungs. You are light and life. You are the reason I open my eyes every morning and brave this world. You are the tonic to my nightmares, the angel that defies my demons.

It’s true that I will not touch you. It’s equally true that I can’t stay away. And my entire existence, Ella, when near you, is nothing but a battle between the two.

You shouldn’t have followed me—” “I have followed you through four hundred years and I will follow you through four thousand more!” His eyes—full of love and fear and sorrow—burned into mine. “You are my wife.” His words, like wisps of air, were fleeting, impossible to catch or prove I’d heard them. I was willingly trapped by the desperate love in his fervent gaze, but what he’d said… “What?” I breathed. “It’s you.” His voice was strong and clear. I hadn’t misheard. But it wasn’t possible. “You are my wife, and wherever you go, I follow.” I tried to shrink away from him, but he was holding me, cradling me like precious goods. Like he truly believed his own delusion. “That’s not poss—” “You don’t remember because it was another life, Ella, a life that was taken from you a very, very long time ago,” he rushed out. “You were sixteen, I was nineteen.” He cradled my face and smiled through his tears. “You needed a weapon, so you came to me.

I’ll take note of every single man with a prolonged gaze, and later, after you’re safe in bed, I’ll choose to hunt each of them down one by one and very slowly, very painfully carve their eyes out of their sockets.

You really did chase me.” I grinned, breathless. “All the way there and back. And you only look a little mad.” “I will chase you to the ends of the earth, Aryella.” A hint of distress darkened his deep timbre. He dismounted his horse and added, “Though I’d prefer you not make me.

Ella, if you think starting a fight is the worst thing I’d do for you, you have not been paying attention.

What edge?” A dark, humorless chuckle rumbled out of him as he studied me with a deliberate glare that made me shiver delightfully. “The edge that makes me want things I can’t have.

I started to close the door, but a large boot crossed the threshold, stopping me. “Aryella, wait. Please.” His deep, gruff voice stopped me in my tracks. I opened the door, and his sheer size crowded the entry. His handsome features were wrought with concern, the scar over his eye crinkling with his brow. “I need to apologize.” His thick throat bobbed as he forced a swallow and stepped into the room. “I was—am—a fool. A hot-tempered, overprotective fool. You are not a child. You are not a pet. You are not a frail princess to be subdued and coddled. You’re a warrior. A queen. A woman with choices, desires, and thoughts—beautiful, intuitive thoughts. And you are remarkable. You are… breathtaking.” A crack rippled through my heart at his trembling voice. “But it has been a very long time since something—someone—has truly mattered to me, so you will please forgive me if I often lack the control and discernment to treat you exactly as you deserve.

And if you ever feel numb again or that you’re… missing yourself, come to me.

May your light blind your nightmares,” he said, “and your love burn away the life that confines you.

I hardly knew this man, but I was a moth with thin, fragile wings drawing too close to his incinerating blaze.

Because there is no line I will not cross for you.

She ran with a yearning for freedom I felt deep in my bones. Her graceful bounds, synchronized with my racing pulse, made me feel like I was flying. My body felt light, not weak or hungry like I’d been in Warrich. The powerful mare carried me faster than my worries as her brilliant black shimmered in the winter sun. She carried me faster than my burdens. She ran through fields of harvested wheat. For a little while, we left the heaviness behind.

Is this my birthday present?” I ran to catch up to him. “No.” I blushed, embarrassed I had mentioned a birthday present. I expected nothing. Why would he bother? Why would anyone bother, when there were so many important and grave concerns in this world?

The Butcher’s mark.

I would let the whole world suffer if it meant seeing you safe and free.

You are the air in my lungs. You are light and life. You are the reason I open my eyes every morning and brave this world. You are the tonic to my nightmares, the angel that defies my demons.

have choices, too, Ella. I’ll take note of every single man who stares at you. And later, after you’re safe in bed, I’ll choose to hunt each of them down one by one and very slowly, very painfully carve their eyes out of their sockets.

I may never have what I want the way I want it, but the day I let go will be the day I’m buried as deep into the fucking ground as they can put me. Even then.” He lifted his knuckle to graze my cheek where I felt heat pulsing. “I’ll be damned if I don’t try to crawl my way back out.

I will chase you to the ends of the earth, Aryella.” A hint of distress darkened his deep timbre. He dismounted his horse and added, “though I’d prefer it if you didn’t make me.

How convenient would it be for you to wear this around your neck? My mark, of sorts.” He took another step closer and brushed over my lips with his thumb. “And a constant reminder of what happens to anyone or anything that tries to harm you.” I exhaled shakily. A muscle worked in his jaw in response to my quickening breaths. “Because, Ella?” he said coolly, brushing a piece of hair from my face, “I’ll gladly skin them all.

You can’t protect or keep me from the man meant to be my husband!” “Then I’ll be his fucking nightmare.

I hold on to the first good thing I can think of.” He gave me a soft smile. “Lately, that’s been you. Safe, warm, fed, happy. And you, Ella… you pull me out of my nightmares and return me to my dreams.

He was home. A home I could not keep.

You are not a child. You are not a pet. You are not a frail girl to be subdued and coddled. You’re a warrior. A queen. A woman with choices, desires, and thoughts—beautiful, intuitive thoughts. And you are remarkable. You are… breathtaking.

There’s not a chance I’ll make it to heaven, but I pray the gods are gracious enough to send me to a place where I can see you. Just you.

If my loyalty to you ever falters, I want you to take this blade and drive it through my heart.

No, do not hesitate, Ella.” He grabbed my hand and held it. “Do you hear me? You take whatever weapon you have and you stab, beat, or slice the life out of them. You do not hesitate. You live, because you are invaluable.

You are invaluable not because of your birth or your power or your blood,” he continued. “You are invaluable because you’re you. And you, just you, are more than enough to fight for.

He was my greatest threat. He was my protector. He was both in one body, one soul. I had never been so torn. Confused. Needy. And I’d never wanted anything more.

I swear on every star, every sky, every soul that has passed through this world, I will follow you! I will find you! Whatever it takes.

I was a moth with thin, fragile wings drawing too close to his incinerating blaze.

There’s not a chance I’ll make it to heaven, but I pray the gods are gracious to send me to a place where I can see you. Just you.” He wound his fingers in my hair. “Because if I can’t spend eternity looking at you, I’d rather my soul cease to exist. You are,” he breathed, “the single most breathtaking thing in this world.

Nightmares hunt you in the quiet and devour your peace. When you are silent, sleeping, nightmares cover the blank canvas of your resting mind like a fungus until you can’t discern what is light and what is feeding on the light. So while they may not be real, Aryella, they’re felt as if they are.