This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

I'm capable—" "Three hours after we met, you sold yourself into slavery and then died." Well, yes, it sounded bad when he put it that way.

Apparently, Lute didn't just hold grudges, he cuddled them and tucked them in at night.

Everard looked at me. “I want to be with you and just you. If you never told me another secret again, I would still want you. Nobody can take you away from me. Not Arvel, not Sauven, not the Archmage, not the entirety of the Crimson Empire. The only person who can come between us is you. And I promise you, from this point on, I will bring the full power of everything I am to win you over. You will put your hand in mine, Maggie, and you will do it gladly.

We place such a crushing burden on knights,” I said. “We tell them they’re supposed to be heroes, defenders of the realm, people of superior character. Then we send them into a slaughter and force them to butcher. They experience fear. They exist in constant vigilance, always ready to fight for their lives. It exhausts their body and soul. They watch their friends bleed out and die, and they have no time to grieve. Nobody warns them about this. Nobody sings songs about a young man trying to push his guts back into his stomach, or being so scared that the world turns dark, or being knocked off your horse and drowning in a muddy field in heavy armor while riders stomp on your back.” The two men in front of me were very still. “We do this to them and then we expect them to return to a peaceful life as if nothing happened. Some of them get a taste for the killing and can’t let it go. Some of them learn to distance themselves from their war selves. Others, like Pelegrin, need help and time.

Bless your heart,” I said. “And that means?” Solentine raised his eyebrows. “‘Eat dirt and die.’ I should’ve let Krasta slice up your arm. You’re an insufferable ass.

I’m looking for a man in armor. Six five, blue eyes. I almost laughed. After everything that happened, I must’ve finally lost it.

What are we waiting for?” “The wind,” Reynald said. “We’ll need it to pick up before we start.” I didn’t mind if the wind didn’t pick up for a while. It was so beautiful here, almost romantic. Floating on a starry night across a magical ocean, just me and Reynald … And eleven corpses we needed to dispose of. So Kair Toren.

Will it bother you that you won’t be the one to kill him?” I asked. “Watching a child he raised as his own burn everything he built and then dance on the ashes of his kingdom will be much more satisfying.” Okay then. Glad we’d cleared that up.

Good morning, I see the assassins have failed.

You gave him a knife?” Shana asked. “He’s old enough.” “He’ll cut himself.” “That’s what he said,” Kaiden said, “He also said cutting myself would teach me to be more careful with it.” Gort, a fan of consequence parenting.

One afternoon, as I lay on my bed wallowing in self-pity, my mom handed me a thick fantasy book, and when I turned my nose up at it, she told me, “Maggie, you need to live in someone else’s head for a bit.

I was sitting in a wooden chest in a house once owned by slavers in the middle of a magical city watching a plate with a chunk of meat because someone kept leaving fish on my desk. Which of my choices had landed me here, exactly?

Sometimes there was no third book. No resolution no matter how many times you reread or how hard you wished for it.

Religious extremists rarely had room for compassion. They were too busy making their religion into everyone else’s problem.

Talk about a thirst trap. Luckily for me, I was immune. “My dear cousin,” he said. “Where is your maid?” “Covering my escape. Would you have preferred picking me up at the house so you could spend the next hour saying things like ‘The Conquerors are still looking for you’ and ‘Please don’t be difficult for once’?” He gave me a narrow smile. “I appreciate your care for my sanity.” “Of course. You are my favorite cousin.

What’s scarier than a rabid honey badger in human form? A rabid honey badger in human form who is your loyal cousin.

You have me, Maggie,” he said. “I don’t know the future, but I know the present, and I’ve decided to walk this path with you. As long as you will have me by your side, I won’t allow anyone to harm you.

You speak of it as if the future were a living thing.” “Sometimes it feels that way. I’ve become … disturbed by it. It’s this kingdom, Solentine. This city. It messes with my mind. It has changed me, and there’s no going back.” “Perhaps it simply showed you who you truly were.

Fucking shit! Of all the fucked-up, shitty, damn fucking assholes...Why?

I trust you with my life. Just not with my freedom.

There is nothing society loves more than tearing down one of their own when they stumble in a public way.

Karma was a bitch, she was sharpening her scythe, and there would be a harvest.

It was the middle of the night. What was I supposed to do, scream?

Lord Protector of the Northern Coast.” Step. “Ruin of the Okula.” He got that title when he stopped the Third Invasion. Sauven had to officially bestow it on him because of the historical precedent, and it had nearly killed him to do it. “Owner of three castles and one hundred fifty thousand kare of land.” Although he ruled the whole of Selva, his personal lands were the size of South Carolina. I knew that one from the forums. What was next, his prized Pokémon card collection?

Everard focused on me. I had never been sighted through the scope of a sniper rifle, but I’d bet it would feel exactly like that. I clenched my hands into fists under the table. Holding his gaze was really difficult. “What are you scheming, Maggie?” The man had some sort of sixth sense. I had given him absolutely no indication that I would do anything except go to the Citadel, but somehow, he had sensed that there was more to it.

He understood how Solentine’s mind worked, so he left him with zero ambiguity. I was now a possession of the Sleepless Duke. The two of them could fuck right off.

It felt like we had stopped moving completely. We just hung there, between the ocean and the sky, watching the trails of three moons shine on the water. “What are we waiting for?” “The wind,” Reynald said. “We’ll need it to pick up before we start.” I didn’t mind if the wind didn’t pick up for a while. It was so beautiful here, almost romantic. Floating on a starry night across a magical ocean, just me and Reynald … And eleven corpses we needed to dispose of. So Kair Toren.

Does he know you led me around on a leash?

Maggie, you need to live in someone else’s head for a bit.