( and let us make fire, and silence, and sound, and let us burn, and be hushed among bells. )

The masquerade is nothing that Martel has any interest in attending - but Petrana gets wind of the fact he's been invited (which means she's been invited, and he suspects his mother pointed this out), and then he really doesn't have as much say in the matter as he might have liked. Despite the effort on his part that would be required to give any ( Read more... )

( Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been thirteen years since my last confession. )

( Judge if you want. We are all going to die. I intend to deserve it. My last words will be, 'Yeah, I had that coming.' )

After years of exile, something about riding through Elenia gave Martel an unpleasantly familiar feeling between his shoulderblades. All of the bridges had been burned, and he didn't belong any more; he fancied the land knew it as well as he did. His thrice-damned 'traveling companions' didn't make the trip any more palatable - if anything, less - ( Read more... )

Aphrael's given him a gift he doesn't deserve. He knows this, as well as he knows that no amount of time to prepare for that conversation could've found him more deserving. Still, he has no intention of wasting what she's given him -- this opportunity holds a lifetime he could be proud of, and more importantly one that she could take pride in as ( Read more... )