House of Salt and Sorrows

Nights like this were meant to be shared, remembered, and talked about for years. Skies like this were meant to be kissed under.

Flushed with starlight and moonlight drowned, All the dreamers are castle-bound. At midnight’s stroke, we will unwind, Revealing fantasies soft or unkind. Show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.

We are born of the Salt, we live by the Salt, and to the Salt we return.

It shouldn’t matter what your parents did, just what you do as a person.

Oh my darling Annaleigh, remember when you let the turtles go? Some things can't be kept." He cupped my cheek, and my tears trickled down his fingers. "Be brave. Be strong. You'll always have my whole heart.

Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.

The euphoria was tangible: I could taste it in the air, the sweetness coating my mouth and going straight to my head like champagne.

All my life has been moonlight and the stars. I can smell the sunlight racing through your veins from across a room. Sunlight and heat and salt. Always the salt,

You can’t change traditions just because you don’t like them.

It still smelled like autumn here. Pine needles and cold, crisp air, bonfires and moldering leaves, the world dying as it readied to be reborn.

All the dreamers are castle-bound. At midnight’s stroke, we will unwind, Revealing fantasies soft or unkind. Show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.

Nights like this were meant to be shared, remembers, and talked about for years. Skies like this were meant to be kissed under.

When certain kinds of people get desperate enough, they're willing to do anything.

We are born of salt and starlight.

The High Mariner says Pontus created our islands and the people on them. He scooped salt from the ocean tides for strength. Into that was mixed the cunning of a bull shark and the beauty of the moon jellyfish. He added the seahorse’s fidelity and the curiosity of a porpoise. When his creation was molded just so—two arms, two legs, a head, and a heart—Pontus breathed some of his own life into it, making the first People of the Salt. So when we die, we can’t be buried in the ground. We slip back into the water and are home.

Her eyes raced over us, counting. "So our son would be ninth in line, even though he's a boy? You never mentioned anything about this." His eyebrows furrowed. "I didn't realize I needed to.

Of all the wishes tonight, yours was almost the loudest, nearly the most hopeful." He smiled. "The second easiest to grant." "Almost?" "There was only one louder," he murmured as his lips descended once more. "Mine.

I think you get to a certain point in life when ghosts are no longer fun. When the people you love die…like my father, your mother and sisters…the thought that they could be trapped here…it’s unbearable, isn’t it? I can’t imagine a worse fate.

dwelt alone / In a world of moan, / And my soul was a stagnant tide, / Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride.’

Regret was the darkest nightmare of all

A midsummer’s night, when the sky is full of sparkling stars and fireflies.

All my years of imagining you,” he murmured, leaving a trail of kisses across my face, “and you are so much more than I ever could have dreamt of…You smell like sunlight,” he whispered against my mouth. “Sunlight has a smell?” I asked, gasping as he planted a kiss in the hollow of my throat. “Oh yes,” he assured me. “All my life has been moonlight and the stars. I can smell the sunlight racing through your veins from across a room. Sunlight and heat and salt. Always the salt.

Skies like this were made to be kissed under.

‘I dwelt alone / In a world of moan, / And my soul was a stagnant tide, / Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride.’

Every Thaumas child learned to read their way across the constellations before every picking up a book of letters.

Before he could stop me, I turned on my heel and sprinted back to the safety of my dinghy. I needed to be out on the water, out among the waves. I needed the sea breezes to push the building panic from me, needed the rhythmic pull of the ocean swells to set my mind right again.

Regret." I [Annaleigh] smiled, though it wasn't funny. "Is that really a nightmare?" "Can you think of anything more frightening?" [Cassius]

What secrets of hers did this man keep?

When his creation was molded just so - two arms, two legs, a head, and a heart - Pontus breathed some of his own life into it, making the first People of the Salt. So when we die, we can't be buried in the ground. We slip back into the water and are home.

Mama said brushing your hair before bed not only left it radiant but also helped untangle pent-up thoughts from the day, ensuring relaxed and peaceful slumber.