“Now. Now, Annwyl. No need to curtsy. A simple nod of your head and absolute worship will be more than enough.”
“Really, Fearghus. You need to stop asking me to let you kill our family.”
“And then what are your plans?”
Annwyl frowned. “My plans?”
“Yes. Your plans. You take your brother’s head, your troops are waiting. What is the next thing that you do?”
Annwyl just stared at him. He realized in that instant that the girl had no plans. None. No grand schemes of controlling the world. No plots to destroy any other empires. Not even the plan to have a celebratory dinner.
“Annwyl, you’ll be queen. You’ll have to do something.”
“But I don’t want to be queen.” Her body shook with panic, and he could hear it in her voice.
“You take his head, you’ll have little choice.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do as queen?”
“Well . .you could try ruling.”
“That sounds awfully complicated.”
“And Annwyl. Remember what I told you." "Protect my right side?" "No." "Feint with my left?" "No." "Nice ass?" "No!" His growl of annoyance only elicited a sweet chuckle from his woman. "Watch my rage, heart of my heart?" "Condescending cow.”
“Fearghus entered what he now considered her chamber, but immediately ducked the book flung at his head. Clearly she’d been waiting for him. And she was not happy.
“He’s the one supposed to be helping me,” she roared at him.
“Did you just throw a book at me? In my own den?”
“Yes. And I’d throw it again!”
Fearghus scratched his head in confusion. He’d never met a human brave enough—or stupid enough, depending on your point of view—to challenge him. “But,” he croaked out, amazed, “I’m a dragon.”
“And I have tits. It means nothing to me!”
“Well? What do you think?
I think you’re the most amazing female I’ve ever met. And I would like to fuck you all night long. Bend over. What do I think about what?
She sighed. Typical male.”
“Hysterical laughter. Why did he keep hearing hysterical laughter? Fearghus opened one eye to stare at his two siblings. The were practically falling over each other they were laughing so hard. They woke him up from a sound sleep for this? "What?"
His current mood wouldn't allow for this. And definitely wouldn't allow for him. Gwenvael choked out an answer. "She braided your hair, brother."
"Like a horse's mane," his sister added.”
“His affection for the human grew steadily by the day. Sometimes by the minute. And it wasn’t simply her beauty, but her utter lack of fear of everything and anything except her brother. She didn’t fear dying. She didn’t fear battle. And, most importantly, she didn’t fear Fearghus. She touched him. Ran her hands across his scales and through his mane.
But it was when he covered her up with the fur and she sighed his name in her sleep, that he lost his heart.”
“So, Lord Dragon, what are your plans for this evening?" He adjusted his body awkwardly and the end of his dealy tail landed gently in her lap.
"Well, I thought we could do that thing again."
"That thing?" Annwyl desperately fought a smile as she ran her hand across the scaled tip. Its very edge shaped like an arrowhead and as sharp. She briefly wondered if teh dragon ever needed to sharpen it with a stone. "Do youmean talking?"
"Yes. Yes. Whatever it is.”
“I didn't know dragons had hair. It's like a horse's mane."
Fearghus snapped. To Morfyd's surprise, Annwyl didn't shy away from her brother and scurry across the room. Instead, she laughed, leaning closer against his body.
"No need to get testy. I was merely implying that your kind was really meant to be beasts of burden for us humans. Just like horses. And centaurs."
"Oh, is that all? Well, I apologize, Lady Annwyl. I thought you were saying something insulting.”
“The men watched as Annwyl the Bloody took a stand against something from their darkest nightmares. Too afraid to fight, but too terrified for their leader to run away.
And then Brastias saw the girl do something he would never forget.
She kicked the beast. Right in the knee.
Brastias and Danelin exchanged glances.
“Well, you always thought she was insane,” Brastias offered.
“I didn’t think I was right.”
“You lying toe-rag!” she yelled up at him.
“Let me explain.”
“Go to hell!”
“Annwyl.”
“No!”
“Did you see the way she ran out of here? Like I had the plague or something."
"Who? The witch?"
"Aye."
"And this bothers you because..."
"Well...it's rude."
"Uh huh."
Brastias growled at his second in command. "Shut up.”
“You bastard! Let me down!"
"Not on your life, beauty." The godlen claw gripped her tighter. "You get hurt, he'll kill me. Now quiet. I'm trying not to vomit." --Gwenvael to Annwyl”
“Do you not listen to our daily meetings about the state of your lands?”
“Of course I don’t. They’re dead boring.”
“Not everything can involve bloodshed, Annwyl.”
“Can’t you come get me when there is bloodshed? Otherwise just leave me alone to read.”
“Um … I am Annwyl.”
“Annwyl. Annwyl. I do not know an Annwyl. So, are you my dinner?”
“No.” It took a step back. “No. I’m not dinner. Let’s never say that again. I am Annwyl of the Dark Plains.” The queen stared at it.
“Annwyl of Garbhán Isle?” Still nothing. It sighed.
“Annwyl the Bloody.”
“You are Annwyl the Bloody?”
It looked slightly defeated. “Yes.”
“You are awfully tiny to be Annwyl the Bloody.”
“I’m taller than most men.”
“That simply does not impress me.”
“A small fireball hit him in the face. He again looked at his sister, smoke still curling out from her human nostrils. "What brat?"
"I said she'll want to return to her men as soon as she can."
"I know."
His sister smiled up at him. "And will you be ready for that, idiot?"
"It's Lord Idiot to you." Fearghus rested his head on his crossed forearms. "And yes, brat. I will be.”
“The feeling to bury one’s head in a ditch can be an overwhelming one, but Annwyl fought it all the same.”
“How’s your father?”
“How do you think he is? You stabbed him in the foot.”
“I would have aimed for his heart, but I wasn’t sure he actually had one. Do any of you have one?”
“He sneered at his father. “He’ll live. I’m going after her.”
“What?” His sister stood up in front of her brother. “Fearghus, don’t. She’s angry. Very angry. She impaled your father . . . twice. Give her some time to calm down.”
“With a sigh, Fearghus went and stood in front of her. “You are a mad bitch, Annwyl the Bloody.”
“What other woman would put up with you, Fearghus the Destroyer?”
“I won’t tolerate her hurting you, my son. I’ll kill the bitch first.”
“Weren’t you the one who tried to cut father’s throat before he Claimed you?”
"He deserved it,”
“You wanted hatchlings.”
“I know. I just didn’t want those hatchlings. Personally, I blame your father.”
Bercelak’s eyes grew wide. “Excuse me?”
On a burst of laughter, she exclaimed, “Well that came out horribly wrong!”
“There was even a story passed among the queen’s court that when freshly hatched, Rhiannon bit her mother on the neck when she tried to cuddle her new daughter. But Rhiannon didn’t believe that for one second. True, she believed she bit her mother, but she didn’t believe her mother had tried to cuddle her.”
“Brastias. My friend.” Uh-oh, this couldn’t be good. “Do you lie to me?”
“Uh . . . no.”
“See? That’s a lie!”
“She made you smile.”
“Aye. Rhiannon always makes me smile.”
Shalin dropped her head against her son’s chest. “Dark gods, I’ve lost you forever.”
Bercelak rolled his eyes. “I think, Mother, that’s a tad extreme.”
“He sighed. A year since he’d left her the morning after the final battle with her brother. A year since he’d held her in his arms. A year since he’d kissed her. A year since he’d buried his head between her thighs. A year since she’d punched him in the face.”
“The bastard was effectively stuck until he and Morfyd helped him. Fearghus smiled a little at his father’s suffering and the female who caused it.
I do love that woman.”
“The queen watched Annwyl for several long moments. “You are an interesting . . . thing. I think I understand what my son sees in you.”
Annwyl swallowed. “Son?”
“You didn’t know?” Annwyl slowly shook her head. “Yes. I think all my children are quite unimpressed with their rank among dragons.”
“Yes. Apparently they are.”
“Is it hard to be with all those men? All day? Every day?”
Annwyl drank some of Morfyd’s wine. She knew no threat of infection remained, but the wine still tasted unbelievably delicious.
“Not at all.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. Just let one of the men touch you inappropriately and you take his arm off right at the shoulder joint. Then, as he’s bleeding to death, you slam his face into a few things, and you’ll find the other men leave you alone.”
Morfyd stared at Annwyl with wide eyes. “What?”
Morfyd cleared her throat. “Nothing.”
“Сразу приступайте к действиям. Активность уничтожает страх. Действуйте Делайте что-нибудь. Чем больше, тем лучше.”
“The depression was the great leveler of mankind. From this I learned a lot about human nature. With survival foremost in each person's mind, jealousy, envy and cowardice became apparent in our small community. Soup”
“Then she probably would have waved back," Max said. "And it might be a he."
"Ha! Not likely," Lucia said. "Didn't you notice them?"
"Them what?" Max asked.
"Her... you know. She has breasts, Max! What do you think that is on her chest?"
"I think it's a pair of crossed arms," Max said.”
“My eyes refuse to let him leave, but he stands still holding my hand, lingering for as long as possible.”
“he committed such a heinous act, would have owned up to it and taken his punishment like a man, as the archaic phrase goes. That may be a quaint and sexist notion these days, but some of what is best about the South is archaic. The tragedy is that it should be so.”
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.