Crown of Blood and Glass

Metadata

• Author: [[Lucinda Dark, Rebecca Grey, and Lucy Smoke]]
• Full Title: Crown of Blood and Glass
• Category: #books
  

Highlights

• “So soft,” he mutters. “You’re always soft, and you smell like the realm of the Gods. You smell like divinity itself.” The sound of his raspy voice, heavy with lust and something deeper … darker, makes me shiver in his arms. (Location 73)
  
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• As if to prove his point, he leans closer, skimming his nose over my throat in a way that makes my heart jump straight to a gallop inside my veins. He inhales deeply, a harsh groan rumbling up his naked chest as it presses against my front. I close my eyes, squeezing them shut against the never-ending darkness that surrounds us. I’ve seen Solomon naked before but never this intimately. Even then he wasn’t the massive creature that now cradles me in his arms. The stone walls surrounding us invade us with their frosty coldness, but here, in the space where his skin brushes mine, it’s like being licked by fire. The sounds of bugs chirping, the feel of soil under our bodies, and hard rock at our backs and sides sweeps all around us. None of it is enough of a distraction for what lies before me, for the man—the monster that lies before me. I didn’t know how a woman should feel when a man presses between her legs. A part of me hates that he’s the one to introduce me to the sensation. In days past … weeks, months? … I would not be doing this. A Princess’ virtue is a bargaining tool. It is proof of sacrifice. Whereas other women are allowed to take lovers at their discretion, a Princess—a future Queen—is held to a much higher standard. But what use is virtue to a Kingdomless Princess? What use is it when there is no one to follow, no one to rule, no one to protect? My heart pounds inside of my chest, a wild, untamed thing. My lashes are wet with unshed tears and so much emotion, it clogs inside my throat. I’ve known Solomon since we were children—angry, resentful, bitter children who took out our frustrations on each other. He’s not my friend. I hate him. Or so I thought… “Are you frightened?” (Location 75)
  
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• “Just ensuring that your feet carry you back to your chambers and not off somewhere else into the night, Princess.” “Are you sure you’re not using me as an excuse to escape the ladies that are following after you?” Solomon blinks down at me, slow and deliberate. “I have no idea what you’re referring to, Highness.” I snort. “You didn’t notice the flock of giggling noble ladies that trailed you all night like a cloud of dust?” I don’t believe that for a second. “I’m sure it’s all in your imagination,” Solomon replies. “Liar,” I utter quietly as I turn away from him and start off in the direction of my bed chambers. (Location 675)
  
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• And as I knew he would, Solomon follows like a daemonic wraith from the Afterworld—silent and ever present. (Location 681)
• “King Vernon’s death―” “Do not speak his name!” The words are ripped from my throat, full of anguish and disgust. “You―you do not have the right to utter any words as precious as his name ever again,” I seethe, fingers digging into the mantle. Nasir’s smile falls away and he gives me the same look he would a poorly performing servant. “In time, you will get over this. You may even thank me.” His chin tips toward me. Thank him? I’m supposed to thank him? Still, despite what I believe is a look of complete disgust on my face, he continues. “You will be rid of my brother. I will stay here with you. You will have your Queendom and I will rule at your side. This friendship of ours can blossom into love.” “Nasir, our friendship is over,” I say quietly. “It ended the second you murdered my father.” How does he not comprehend this? Nasir shakes his head. Despite my words, his face remains soft—undisturbed. Gentle, even. It’s all a lie. “I saved you from a lifetime of misery with my brother,” he insists. “Once you understand all that I have done for you―for us―you’ll come to love me. If you don’t, then I’ll simply make you.” Make me? He sounds so confident in his assertion. So unbending, I almost believe him and that’s far more terrifying than anything else at the moment. “I…” I inhale sharply, my thoughts racing with what to say. “All of Rozentine will know of what you’ve done. If Bartoli doesn’t come for you first, I will see you executed for your actions, your betrayal. You’ve ended the alliance and you’ve slaughtered any feelings I might have had for you.” Another little laugh, though it doesn’t reach his eyes. It’s a hollow sound. Has it always been that way? “Funny thing to say for a girl who doesn’t believe in violence.” Nasir knows me. He knows me in the deep way that only a best friend could. (Location 1033)
• Though Nasir’s betrayal will likely send our current world into an era of blood and peril, it will not destroy her. (Location 1614)
  
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• I cannot escape her blood. The words that pour through my mind are the ones he doesn’t say out loud. Just like I cannot escape this painful hold she has on me. As much as I want to end this responsibility of mine, to run from her, the fact is—Devonry Estand is the last heir to Rozentine and the only hope this country has for peace once more. My hands curl into fists as violence rages in my blood. I can feel it burn against the inside of my flesh, wanting out. I roll my tongue into my cheek and then take it between my canine and a lower tooth before biting down and tasting blood―if only to keep myself from rejecting the truth in his words. “Her blood is the reason for the danger she’s in,” I say. If she weren’t the Princess then Nasir likely would never have even met her, much less become obsessed with her. Ahren shakes his head. “If she decides to run, she will be running for the rest of her life.” (Location 2279)
  
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• Everything I’ve experienced over the last several days feels like a nightmare, like it happened to someone else, and I’ve merely heard it secondhand. I can’t quite connect my own emotions to the horrors that I know have happened. My father. The Sunfire Palace. Jacin. Sheza. Nasir. My grief feels so very small in comparison to the loss of everything else. (Location 2485)
  
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• Devonry is my sun. I am drawn to her. I live because of her. Yet, if I were to ever touch her, I would burn. (Location 3154)
  
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• Sex deprived. Desperate for her touch. Burning with need. (Location 3996)
  
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• I whirl around so fast that my skirts spin in a circle, swinging wildly around my ankles and calves even though I’ve stopped. “Solomon!” I nearly drop my bow where I stand at the shock of seeing him—not only up and standing, but out of his bedroom and dressed as if he means to stride about the grounds of House Caladrius all on his own. It’s only a moment before I let go of the bow that I recall what Aegis had taught me and I quickly hook it into place alongside the basket of arrows before I return to Solomon. “What are you doing here?” “I should be asking you that,” Solomon replies as he strides toward us, his gaze sliding to Aegis with suspicion. “You shouldn’t be up,” I say, hurrying toward him. Upon second glance, despite his upright stride, it’s apparent that Solomon is moving slower than normal. His movements are stiff and his face is drawn with lines of tension. “You’re in pain.” He waves me away as I reach him. “I’m fine.” “Don’t deny it,” I say. “It’s obvious that you’re—” “Devonry—” “Lady Dina,” Aegis says, using the pseudonym I’d taken from my time at Driage Castle and given to Lord Frederic, halting Solomon’s words with the reminder that others are milling about the training grounds. Though they’re nowhere near us, caution is still needed. Solomon turns to him immediately as his hand lands on my shoulder. “Yes, of course,” he says. (Location 4093)
  
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• I wait a beat before pulling myself out from under Solomon’s grip and taking a step back as I cross my arms over my chest. “What was that?” I demand. Crimson eyes meet my gaze briefly before sliding away as Solomon moves around my form and steps into the same spot I had vacated before the target. He hefts the bow I left in his hand, seeming to measure its weight and length as his fingers drift over it and he lifts it to pluck at the string. “Solomon,” I snap. “Answer me.” “I will,” he says, lifting his head. “After you show me your skill with the bow.” A scowl overtakes my face, but somewhere, deep inside of me, I’m not at all displeased by the idea of receiving training from him. Solomon spoke no lie when he said he was as good with a bow as any soldier. He’s not the Blood General for nothing. With a huff still, I walk toward him and take the bow from his proffered hand. (Location 4115)
  
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• “A-are you going to let me go?” I stutter out the question and as soon as it leaves my mouth, I regret it—wishing, instead, that I could pull the words out of the air and bury them back into my throat. Solomon doesn’t move back or even loosen his hold. “After you shoot this arrow,” he says. “Now, focus.” “I am focused,” I say, but the truth is—it’s not on the arrow. It’s on him. All I can sense, all I can feel is the strength of his body against mine. The way the heat of him somehow delves through both layers of our clothes to warm my back as he presses against me is maddening. What is wrong with me? (Location 4158)
  
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• it feels as if we’re both toeing the edge of some boundary I didn’t know existed until this moment. “Breathe,” Solomon orders and I do. My breath rushes out of my chest. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. My fingers tighten. “Good, now turn your head completely to the side. Don’t tilt down—yes, good, just like that. Ready when you are, love. Release it.” I let go and the string of the bow jerks forward so quickly, I jump. It’s too late, though. The arrow soars through the sky and slams into the wooden target several paces away. Right. In. The. Middle. (Location 4166)
  
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• We reach Argyle’s room without running into anyone and he waits until we’re inside with the door shut and locked behind us before speaking again. “I know you don’t wish to be away from your mate,” he begins, tossing off his hood and peeling the layers of his cloak off to throw it across his bed before turning and sinking down onto the creaking mattress. He gazes up at me expectantly. “But I doubt you’d want a conversation such as this to be near her ears.” At the term ‘mate,’ my entire body hardens. From my shoulders to my toes. The verbal acknowledgment of Devonry’s meaning to my very soul strikes me harder than any weapon. I tamp it down—shoving the emotions racing through me into a small part of my mind to focus on Argyle. “You took us to the House of Ravens without much warning on purpose,” I say. “What was your aim?” He meets my stare. “You want my help in acquiring passage across the ocean channels,” he states. “I want to know if it’s worth helping the kind of Princess who’s lost all her power and is so ignorant of the world as to not know that slavery still exists.” Insult burns in my chest as I take an aggressive step toward my friend before abruptly stopping myself. Argyle’s face is calm, unwavering as he watches me. Waiting. (Location 5272)
  
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• Argyle finishes rifling through his bag and then gathers up the objects he pulled out before standing and facing me once more. “You’re afraid to tell her,” he guesses. I meet his stare with silence. He’s right. It’s not just the lack of knowledge of her own abilities or the fact that I will essentially be teaching her how to control her powers on the run—on a trial and error basis—but with Awakening comes … other possibilities. Such as the thought that she might … recognize me. Who I am. Who she is to me. Who we are to each other. If I’m honest with myself, a part of me hopes for that and another part of me worries that it would destroy this careful truce we’ve managed to reach. I’ve spent the entirety of my adult life ensuring her irritation with me. I’ve encouraged her hatred and in the last several weeks, that hatred has finally waned. But if she were to find out the truth—what I’ve known since the moment I laid eyes on her, would she love me back or … would her hatred come back? (Location 5323)
• He thought me here to play the hero? No. I am no hero and I never will be. I am a shadow, cruel and ruthless. The only one who can control me is the true hero. My Goddess. Devonry. (Location 5692)
• Her voice echoes between my ears, and I realize it’s been absent for so long. Since that horrible night. Tears gather against my lashes and my breath seizes in my lungs—ripping my throat apart from the inside out as I sob on my next downward swing. For so long, I believed her words. I believed that violence was simply the work of angry men, but now … now I’m not so sure. Men like Captain Deckard cannot be reasoned with. Men who steal, kidnap, hurt, and use their strength against those they would consume do not deserve my sympathy or my pacifism. Men like that are monsters. (Location 5773)
• “Celine, I need to know now,” I say, gasping for breath. “Are you coming with me after all this?” In the darkness, her eyes glow—that silver hue returning. “Fate has brought me to you, Highness. I am yours to command.” Her eyes fade and she blinks at me. “The Gods want me to follow you, Devonry,” she says. “So, follow you I will.” I nod. “Okay.” I swallow and repeat it. “Okay.” (Location 5784)
  
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• To this man, the lives and existence of others are not valuable if they cannot be exchanged like goods. I know that this man will commit his crimes again. Not tomorrow. Maybe not even the day after. But if I release him into the world, wherever he may end up―suffering will follow. I notch my arrow against my bow and draw the string back. Pain wells up within me, a deep loathing both for the action and myself. It’s like lightning striking my still beating heart over and over again with the same steady rhythm of the lapping waves before me. Rage tightens my chest, making the act of breathing an impossibility. The slightest bit of my last breath burns inside my lungs. A salt-coated breeze fans out in front of my face pushing back the smoke as I stand at the edge of the port’s dock and turn the sharpness of my weapon to the man attempting to escape. Each of his hurried jerking motions rocks the small boat making its way past Carion City’s peninsula. How many had he stolen over the years? Kidnapped? Sold? Hurt? So many lives lost, so many destroyed, and all for what? Profit? Gain? Gold? There is no amount of riches powerful enough to bring back the dead or restore the peace of those taken from their homes and lives. No matter how I treasure the life that Aerea has given me, death is the same for us all. It is undeniable. It’s why, I suspect, my mother was so against violence in the first place. She knew then what I have now learned. If only I could’ve followed in her footsteps. The wanting thought brings tears to my eyes. Because, in spite of the desire, I know I can’t. I can’t be the Queen she wanted me to be. If I’m to protect Rozentine, or even myself, survival costs more than one woman’s desires. It comes at the price of those hopes and dreams. How blind I was. For so long, I allowed myself to be sheltered from the dark reality of the world. From the insidiousness of humankind, the greed. Now, the very violence that my mother once denied is what I wield. Her shame still reaches me from her place in the Afterworld. The dark of the night is illuminated by the fires consuming the warehouse district. Even from here, I can feel the heat as it catches the wind and blows toward me, casting my shadow out onto the old weathered boards. More smoke invades my lungs, filling me from the outside in. Is this the scent of change or war? Ash clouds my vision. Rain falls with it but lighter now as it finally lets up somewhat. From the collected burn of water in my eyes, a single tear slips out and slides down my cheek. Several hard thumps resound against the wooden planks as hurrying footsteps rush up the dock behind me. Fine tremors start along my forearm and move up to my shoulders. I suck in a breath and force them down. They serve no purpose here. I’ve already made my decision and I cannot be swayed. As if he hears my internal thoughts, Solomon’s voice rises above the crackling of the fires and the echoing crashes of the buildings caving in under the heat and… (Location 5857)