Crystal Crowned

Every chance worth taking will make you a little scared. That means you're taking a risk. And where there is risk, there is reward.

She was tired of being a symbol. Symbols were stagnant, frozen, representative, and spurring of action but never the action itself.

Stop. Stop trying to make the illusion of strength. You don't need it. Not here. Not now. Let yourself be sad until the real strength returns.

Because our love is more than something I can wear. Our time is far greater than what can be counted by two hands and some numbers. Because, even without it, I still have you.

You won’t ever have everyone love you, just as you won’t have everyone hate you. find the right people to love you and return the hatred of others with ambivalence or hatred of your own.

She longed for the days where her biggest decision was what book to read first.

She didn’t make him out to be perfect. Vhalla knew Aldrik was horribly flawed. But so was she. He was prone to anger and she prone to selfishness. But they strove together to be better, for themselves and for each other.

We all believe in you two. We are all fighting for you. Do you know why?" She shook her head. She didn't have the faintest idea. "Because you two represent something, something more than you do individually. You are the impossible dreamers. The two who took on fate to be together. No one believed you could be anything. More than once, you both strove for more, for dreams that you should've never dreamed. So when you say you fight for peace, people believe it. Because you have cheated death and fate. Compared to that, finding peace will surely be easy.

They are the ships, and you are the wind. You do no lower yourself to their rules or expectations. You blow in whatever direction you feel is needed and leave them with no choice but to oblige.

She was drowning, and they all still thought she was breathing.

Just like that, the world changed. Aldrik held out both hands before her and helped her to her feet. Vhalla stood, not as a common-born library girl, a soldier, a sorcerer, or a lady, but as an Empress.

Be improper with me, Lady Ci'Dan." Jax wiggled his eyebrows.

I've always loved watching you sleep. Seeing you at peace." He brushed hair lovingly away from her face. "I plan to do it forever." "Even now?" she whispered, wanting to hear the words between his words. "Even now," he affirmed.

Love, war, life was a series of battlefields strung together with the courage to march forward.

Vhalla was discovering that the path to being the person she wanted to be had no end point. There would always be room for her to adapt, to change, and to improve.

Fritz . . ." Grahm stared up at his man, who was doing a better job of holding Grahm than holding his own emotions together. "I'm glad I could see you again." "Me, too." "I love you," Grahm whispered. "And I love you." Tears fell from Fritz's eyes. "Now, don't die.

Vhalla held her tongue that "backward and barbaric" were often times only used when one culture didn't properly understand another.

He would still be that man with whom she had sat on a rooftop at the Crossroads. A man who would have been hers if the stars constellated a different design for her heart.

But if we wait on this wedding, you can make my dress crimson. I will not wear gold if my Imperial nobility is bought with the blood of innocent civilians who died while I had a party.

Vhalla gave the tiniest of smiles when her eyes fell on Fritz, and he risked breaking his wrist with his frantic, not so subtle waving.

You, you are not so chained. And so you see the world with eyes that I could never have. You have hopes that no one else would allow themselves to dream of." Elecia gave the tiniest of smirks. "Forgive me, but I wish not to sway your actions in this matter. I want to see what you will do. I want to know what kind of Empress you will be.

Because a wise woman taught me that no soul is beyond saving.

Aldrik turned back to the marker. “Dia, I realize you are aware, but your daughter has grown into one astounding woman, and I would be lost without her.

At least if I am to die, then it would be as someone I can look in the mirror.

He was no longer a wildfire burning with rage. He was now the fires of the forges he'd stoked. He burned for a purpose and remained focused on that singular goal.

There wasn’t a clerical solution to nervousness, and she knew of no salves that cured stress. The medicine she needed was bound between leather and delivered with silence.

The fires of Solaris, the fires of justice, burn bright and hot. The sun is rising, and it will cast this darkness from the earth. We will end the Supreme King.

I met Grahm there as well . . . One day, I walked in, and my table was taken. Now, the old me would've just sat somewhere else. But that was my table, and my friendship with Larel had made me bold. Plus, he was really, really cute.

Magic glowing around crystals that had looked like feathers. Fire that had saved her life by burning wheat. And a final encounter in a garden of roses. If that is the name you choose.

It would please me greatly, as it is the first decree of your future Empress.