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399 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2022
'The girl, the King… and the monster they became.'
┏━✦❘༻𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓉༺❘✦━━┓
┏━✦❘༻𝓅𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔༺❘✦━━┓
┏━✦❘༻𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈༺❘✦━━┓
'Except, in this fairy tale, the maiden has blood on her hands.'
'He came for the girl... And got the monster instead.'
┏━✦❘༻𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒༺❘✦━━┓
'Which perhaps was why Ravyn Yew enraged me so deeply. It was easier to hate him for being secretive and dishonest than admitting I hated myself for the same reasons.'
・"i felt tethered — wrapped in an invisible string that tied me to ravyn yew."・ spoiler: also, wait, so she's the shepherd king and the nightmare and elspeth spindle and the spirit of the wood? i'm so confused ... ⠀ ⤸ 𓈒 : 𓂃
❝nothing is free. nothing is safe. magic is love, but also, it’s hate. it comes at a cost. you’re found, and you’re lost. magic is love, but also, it’s hate.❞
“To the quiet girls with stories in their heads. To their dreams— and their nightmares.”
“I’m just the wind in the trees, the shadow, and the fright. The echo in the leaves… the nightmare in the night.”
“My magic moves, he said. My magic bites. My magic soothes. My magic frights. You are young and not so bold. I am unflinching— five hundred years old.”
“It is not they who bring the reckoning, Ravyn. It is you. It is us.”
“I resisted, Elspeth, because I was already imagining how I might press my finger against your wet lips again, like I had in my room.” He took in a breath, his mouth dropping to my ear. “And that was nothing to the wicked things I was imagining after we argued in the garden.”
“When he looked at me, I felt seen, known. There was a line between us, drawn by fate and magic, that stretched out over space and time. Ravyn and I had walked that line our entire lives, unaware we were headed straight for each other.”
“Are you still pretending?” I said, reveling in his gaze. Ravyn gave a surprised laugh and, in front of everyone, leaned in and kissed me.
“I never was,” he whispered into my lips.
“Can I kiss you?”
My voice shook. “A bit late to ask, isn’t it?”
“Not on your mouth, Elspeth.” His eyes turned wicked as he lowered himself to his knees, kissing the inside of my leg, the tips of his teeth edging over my skin.
“Do you trust me, Elspeth?” I blinked through the blur of tears.
“Do I have a choice?”
“My darling, you’ve always had a choice.”
❝Birds fluttered beneath a box shrub, startled by my graceless gait, and flew upward in a flurry.❞