|
04d3da3
|
"Rhysand stared at me for long enough that I faced him. "Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all."
|
|
feyre
heart
pity
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
c4ca40a
|
"I believe everything happens for a reason. Whether it is decided by the Mother, or the Cauldron, or some sort of tapestry of Fate, I don't know. I don't really care. But I am grateful for it, whatever it is. Grateful that it brought you all into my life. If it hadn't... I might have become as awful as that prick we're going to face today. If I had not met an Illyrian warrior-in-training," he said to Cassian, "I would not have known the true depths of strength, of resilience, of honor and loyalty." Cassian's eyes gleamed bright. Rhys said to Azriel, "If I had not met a shadowsinger, I would not have known that it is the family you make, not the one you are born into, that matters. I would not have known what it is to truly hope, even when the world tells you to despair." Azriel bowed his head in thanks. Mor was already crying when Rhys spoke to her. "If I had not met my cousin, I would neer have learned that light can be found in even the darkest of hells. That kidness can thrive even amongst cruelty." She wiped away her teas as she nodded. I waited for Amren to offer a retort. But she was only waiting. Rhys bowed his head to her. "If I had not met a tiny monster who hoards jewels more fiercely than a firedrake..." A quite laugh from all of us at that. Rhys smiled softly. "My own power would have consumed me long ago." Rhys squeezed my hand as he looked to me at last. "And if I had not met my mate..." His words failed him as silver lined his eyes. He said down the bond, He wiped away the tears sliding down my face. "I believe that everything happened, exactly the way it had to... so I could find you." He kissed another tear away."
|
|
amren
azriel
cassian
elain
feyre-archeron
mor
morrigan
nesta
rhys
rhysand
sarah-j-maas
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
788a020
|
"Well, good-bye for now," he said, rolling his neck as if we hadn't been talking about anything important at all. He bowed at the waist, those wings vanishing entirely, and had begun to fade into the nearest shadow when he went rigid. His eyes locked on mine wide and wild, and his nostrils flared. Shock--pure shock flashed across his features at whatever he saw on my face, and he stumbled back a step. Actually stumbled. "What is--" I began. He disappeared--simply disappeared, not a shadow in sight--into the crisp air."
|
|
feyre
mystery
rhys
rhysand
shock
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
d8a3df5
|
"When you healed my arm...You didn't need to bargain with me. You could have demanded every single week of the year." My brows knit together as he turned, already half-consumed by the dark. "Every single week, and I would have said yes." It wasn't entirely a question, but I needed the answer. A half smile appeared on his sensuous lips. "I know," he said, and vanished."
|
|
rhys
rhysand
the-bargain
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
1ba4165
|
Kindness can thrive even amongst cruelty.
|
|
acowar
rhys
rhysand
sarah-j-maas
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
3d8e0b4
|
Lucien had been prepared to take me against my will. Fae males were territorial, dominant, arrogant--but the ones in the Spring Court ... something had festered in their training. Because I knew--deep in my bones--that Cassian might push and test my limits, but the moment I said no, he'd back off. And I knew that if ... that if I had been wasting away and Rhys had done nothing to stop it, Cassian or Azriel would have pulled me out. They would have taken me somewhere--wherever I needed to be--and dealt with Rhys later. But Rhys ... Rhys would never have not seen what was happening to me; would never have been so misguided and arrogant and self-absorbed. He'd known what Ianthe was from the moment he met her. And he'd understood what it was like to be a prisoner, and helpless, and to struggle--every day--with the horrors of both.
|
|
azriel
cassian
feyre
ianthe
lucien
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
c03c480
|
"His tunic was unbuttoned at the top, and he ran a hand through his blue-black hair before he wordlessly slumped against the wall across from me and slid to the floor. "What do you want?" I demanded. "A moment of peace and quiet," he snapped, rubbing his temples. I paused. "From what?" He massaged his pale skin, making the corners of his eyes go up and down, out and in. He sighed. "From this mess." I sat up farther on my pallet of the hay. I'd never seen him so candid. "That damned bitch is running me ragged," he went on, and dropped his hands from his temples to lean his head against the wall. "You hate me. Imagine how you'd feel if I made you serve in my bedroom. I'm High Lord of the Night Court - not her harlot." So the slurs were true. And I could imagine very easily how much I would hate him - what it would do to me - to be enslaved to someone like that. "Why are you telling me this?" The swagger and nastiness were gone. "Because I'm tired and lonely, and you're the only person I can talk to without putting myself at risk." He let out a low laugh. "How absurd: a High Lord of Prythian and a - " "You can leave if you're just going to insult me." "But I'm so good at it". He flashed one of his grins. I glared at him, but he sighted. "One wrong move tomorrow, Freyre, and we're all doomed."
|
|
friendly
lonely
rhys
rhysand
tired
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
80b8cfc
|
"I stared at the nose I'd seen bleeding only hours before, the violet eyes that had been so filled with pain. "Why?" I asked. He knew what I meant, and shrugged. "Because when the legends get written, I didn't want to be remembered for standing on the sidelines. I want my future offspring to know that I was there, and that I fought against her at the end, even if I couldn't do anything useful." I blinked, this time not at the brightness of the sun. "Because," he went on, his eyes locked with mine, "I didn't want you to fight alone. Or die alone." And for a moment, I remembered that faerie who had died in our foyer, and how I'd told Tamlin the same thing. "Thank you," I said, my throat tight. Rhys flashed a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. " I doubt you'll be saying that when I take you to the Night Court."
|
|
not-alone
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
63fa4ee
|
Because all the monsters have been let out of their cages tonight, no matter what court they belong to. So I may roam wherever I wish until the dawn.
|
|
fae
freyre
high-fae
high-lord
monsters
night-court
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
c4d6940
|
The great joy and honour of my life has been to know you. To call you my family. And I am grateful - more than I can possibly say - that I was given this time with you all
|
|
court-of-dreams
fantasy
fiction
new-adult
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
610ff46
|
"You didn't tell me this would happen." "You didn't ask. So how am I to blame?"
|
|
freyre
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
0ef2d63
|
"The walls weren't moving, and the room was open - gaping. No colors, but shades of darkness, of night . Only those star-flecked violet eyes were bright, full of color and light. He gave me a lazy smile before he leaned forward. I pulled away, but his hands were like shackles. I could do nothing as his mouth met with my cheek, and he licked away a tear. His tongue was hot against my skin, so startling that I couldn't move as he licked away another path of salt water, and then another. My body went taut and loose all at once and I burned, even as chills shuddered along my limbs. It was only when his tongue danced along the damp edges of my lashes that I jerked back. He chuckled as I scrambled for the corner of the cell. I wiped my face as I glared at him. He smirked, sitting down against a wall. "I figured that would get you to stop crying." "It was disgusting." I wiped my face again. "Was it?" He quirked an eyebrow and pointed to his palm - to the place where my tattoo would be. "Beneath all your pride and stubbornness, I could have sworn I detected something that felt differently. Interesting." "Get out." "As usual, your gratitude is overwhelming."
|
|
freyre
rhys
rhysand
sassy
stop-crying
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
84aecb3
|
He had stayed. And fought for me. Week after week, he'd fought for me, even when I had no reaction , even when I had barely been able to speak or bring myself to care if I lived or died or ate or starved. I couldn't leave him to his own dark thoughts, his own guilt. He'd shouldered them alone long enough.
|
|
feyre
feyrhys
rhys
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
b8038d7
|
"Feyre!" someone roared. No, not someone - Rhysand."
|
|
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
ff53bf9
|
"Her magic sent him sprawling, and it then hurled into Rhysand again - so hard that his head cracked against the stones and the knife dropped from his splayed fingers. No one made a move to help him, and she struck him once more with her power. The red marble splintered where he hit it, spiderwebbing toward me. With wave after wave she hit him. Rhys groaned. "Stop," I breathed, blood filling my mouth as I strained a hand to reach her feet. "Please." Rhys's arms buckled as he fought to rise, and blood dripped from his nose, splattering on the marble. His eyes met mine. The bond between us went taut. I flashed between my body and his, seeing myself through his eyes, bleeding and broken and sobbing. I snapped back into my own mind as Amarantha turned to me again. "Stop? Stop? Don't pretend you care, human," she crooned, and curled her finger. I arched my back, my spine straining to the point of cracking, and Rhysand bellowed my name as I lost my grip on the room."
|
|
freyre
rhys
rhysand
the-bond
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
1adfb67
|
"What do you care?" I barked, and his grip tightened enough on my wrists that I knew my bones would snap with a little more pressure. "What do I care?" he breathed, wrath twisting his features. Wings - those membranous, glorious wings - flared from his back, crafted from the shadows behind him. "What do I care?" But before he could go on, his head snapped to the door, then back to my face. The wings vanished as quickly as they had appeared, and then his lips were crushing into mine. His tongue pried my mouth open, forcing himself into me, into the space where I could still taste Tamlin. I pushed and trashed, but he held firm, his tongue sweeping over the roof of my mouth, against my teeth, claiming me - The door was flung wide, and Amarantha's curved figure filled its space. Tamlin - Tamlin was beside her, his eyes slightly wide, shoulders tight as Rhys's lips still crushed mine. Amarantha laughed, and a mask of stone slammed down on Tamlin's face. void of feeling, void of anything vaguely like the Tamlin I'd been tangled up with moments before."
|
|
amarantha
feyre
kiss
rhys
rhysand
tamlin
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
cee87ec
|
Regardless of his motives or his methods, Rhysand was keeping me alive. And had done so even before I set foot Under the Mountain.
|
|
keep-alive
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
865eb09
|
It took me a long while to realize that Rhysand, whether he knew it or not, had effectively kept me from shattering completely.
|
|
love
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
365073a
|
Rhysand yelled my name again - yelled it as though he cared. I blacked out, but she brought me back, ensuring that I felt everything ensuring that I screamed every time a bone broke.
|
|
feyre
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
0dec402
|
"What have you done to me?" Rhysand stood, running a hand through his short, dark hair. It's custom in my court for bargains to be permanently marked upon flesh." I rubbed my left forearm and hand, the entirety of which was now covered in swirls and whorls of black ink. Even my fingers weren't spared, and a large eye was tattooed in the center of my palm. It was feline, and its slitted pupil stared right back me. "Make it go away," I said, and he laughed. "You humans are truly grateful creatures, aren't you?"
|
|
feyre
rhys
rhysand
tattoo
the-night-court
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
ea37c8d
|
Not consort, not wife. Feyre is High Lady of the Night Court. My equal in every way; she would wear my crown, sit on a throne beside mine. Never sidelined, never designated to breeding and parties and child rearing. My queen.
|
|
high-lady
mate
night-court
queen
rhys
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
c50b4a5
|
"They grabbed for me, but he bared his teeth in a smile that was anything but friendly - and they halted. "No more household chores, no more tasks," he said, his voice an erotic caress. Their yellow eyes went glazed and dull, their sharp teeth gleaming as their mouths slackened. "Tell the others, too. Stay out of her cell, and don't touch her. If you do, you're to take your own daggers and gut yourselves. Understood?" Dazed, numb nods, then they blinked and straightened. I hid my trembling. Glamour, mind control - whatever it was he had done, it worked. They beckoned - but didn't dare touch me. Rhysand smiled. "You're welcome," he purred as I walked out."
|
|
glamour
mind-control
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
df67075
|
"He chuckled. Even as he said my most private thoughts, even as I burned with outrage and shame, I trembled at the grip still on my mind. Rhysand turned to the High Lord. "I'm curious: Why did she wonder if it would feel good to have you bite her breast the way you bit her neck?" "Let. Her. Go." Tamlin's face was twisted with such feral rage that it struck a different, deeper chord of terror in me. "If it's any consolation," Rhysand confided to him, "she would have been the one for you - and you might have gotten away with it. A bit late, though. She's more stubborn than you are."
|
|
high-fae
rhys
rhysand
tamlin
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
4c2be6c
|
Why does anything cling to something? Maybe they love wherever they're going so much that it's worth it. Maybe they'll keep coming back, until there's only one star left. Maybe that one star will make the trip forever, out of the hope that someday--if it keeps coming back often enough--another star will find it again.
|
|
fantasy
feyre
fiction
rhys
rhysand
velaris
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
b84a53e
|
"What - what was I doing the whole time?" So much for Alis's warning. Lucien let out a sharp breath, running a hand through his red hair. "He had you dance for him for most of the night. And when you weren't dancing, you were sitting in his lap." "What kind of dancing?" I pushed. "Not the kind you were doing with Tamlin on Solstice," Lucien said, and my face heated. From the murkiness of my memories of last night, I recalled the closeness of a certain pair of violet eyes - eyes that sparkled with mischief as they beheld me. "In front of everyone?" "Yes," Lucien replied - more gently than I'd heard him speak to me before."
|
|
feyre
lucien
rhys
rhysand
the-dance
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
ab52c3a
|
Thus I became Rhysand's plaything, the harlot of Amarantha's whore.
|
|
feyre
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
54796fd
|
Rhys casually released me with a flick of his tongue over my bottom lip as a crowd of High Fae appeared behind Amarantha and chimed in with her laughter. Rhysand gave them a lazy, self-indulgent grin and bowed. But something sparked in the queen's eyes as she looked at Rhysand. Amarantha's whore, they'd called him.
|
|
feyre
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
892c999
|
"Well, good-bye for now," he said, rolling his neck as if we hadn't been talking about anything important at all. He bowed at the waist, those wings vanishing entirely, and had begun to fade into the nearest shadow when he went rigid. His eyes locked on mine, wide and wild, and his nostrils flared. Shock - pure shock flashed across his features at whatever he saw on my face, and he stumbled back a step. Actually stumbled. "What is -" I began. He disappeared - simply disappeared, not a shadow in sight - into the crisp air."
|
|
rhys
rhysand
shocked
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
bf5b67e
|
"If it's any consolation," Rhysand confided to him, "she would have been the one for you - and you might have gotten away with it. A bit late, though. She's more stubborn than you are."
|
|
rhys
rhysand
stubborn
tamlin
the-one
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
0f6bf31
|
If he hadn't been kissing me, if he hadn't shown up and interrupted us, I would have gone out into that throne room covered in smudged paint. And everyone--especially Amarantha--would have known what I'd been up to. It wouldn't have taken much to figure out whom I'd been with, especially not once they saw the paint on Tamlin. I didn't want to consider what the punishment might have been. Regardless of his motives or his methods, Rhysand was keeping me alive. And had done so even before I set foot Under the Mountain.
|
|
feysand
love
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
0c1ac5a
|
"I will never stop being grateful to have you in my life, either, Feyre darling. And no matter what lies ahead"--a small, joyous smile at that--"we will face it together. Enjoy every moment of it together."
|
|
forever
rhys
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
5f1cbbd
|
"You dare glamour me?" he growled, his violet eyes burning as they bore into my own. Lucien just pressed me harder into the wall."
|
|
glamour
lucien
rhys
rhysand
violet-eyes
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
8e8097c
|
"I'd forgotten that human minds are easy to shatter as eggshells," Rhysand said, and ran a finger across the base of my throat. I shuddered, my eyes burning. "Look at how delightful she is - look how she's trying not to cry out in terror. It would be quick, I promise."
|
|
feyre
mind-control
mind-reading
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
0e44371
|
"Faeries began calling foul play, demanding Tamlin be released from the curse, calling her a liar. Through the haze, I saw Rhysand crouching by Tamlin. Not to help him, but to grab the- "You are all pigs - all scheming, filthy pigs." Then Rhysand was on his feet, my bloody knife in his hands. He launched himself at Amarantha, swift as a shadow, the ash dagger aimed at her throat. She lifted a hand - not even bothering to look - and he was blasted back by a wall of white light. But the pain paused for a second, long enough for me to see him hit the ground and rise again and lunge for her - with hands that now ended in talons. He slammed into the invisible wall Amarantha had raised around herself, and my pain flickered as she turned to him. "You traitorous piece of filth," she seethed at Rhysand. "You're just as bad as the human beasts." One by one, as if a hand were shoving them in, his talons pushed back into his skin, leaving blood in their wake. He swore, low and vicious. "You were planning this all along."
|
|
feyre
fight
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
5324384
|
"I frowned at the eye in my palm. "What, literally shout at the tattoo?" "You could try rubbing it on certain body areas and I might come faster." --
|
|
a-court-of-thorns-and-roses
acomaf
acotar
feyre
rhys
rhysand
sarah-j-maas
sjm
the-night-court
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
dfde1cf
|
And in the end, though, we'd saved each other. All of us had.
|
|
inner-circle
rhys
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
404d26e
|
"I want to share this bed with you, though," I breathed. "I want you to hold me." Stars flickered to life in his eyes. "Always," he promised, kissing my brow, his wings now enveloping me completely. "Always."
|
|
a-court-of-wings-and-ruin
acotar
acowar
feyre
rhys
rhysand
|
Sarah J. Maas |
|
e3bb6ac
|
Hot, hard and so thick that her fingertips didn't meet when she closed her hand around him.
|
|
paranormal-romance
rhys
sex
|
Meljean Brook |
|
ea9726e
|
"Even as he said my most private thoughts, even as I burned with outrage and shame, I trembled at the grip still on my mind. Rhysand turned to the High Lord. "I'm curious: Why did she wonder if it would feel good to have you bite her breast the way you bit her neck?" "Let. Her. Go." Tamlin's face was twisted with such feral rage that it struck a different, deeper chord of terror in me." --
|
|
feyre
mind-control
mind-reading
private-thoughts
rhys
rhysand
tamlin
|
Sarah J. Maas |