King of Scars

“You do not use it. You are it. The storm is in your bones.”

Yuri Vedenen, if you upset my wife again, I will kill you where you stand

To his surprise, Zoya seized his hand. “Come back,” she said. “Promise you’ll come back to us.”

Because he was most likely about to die, he let himself cup his hand briefly to her extraordinary face. Her skin felt cool against his fingers.

“Of course I’ll come back,” he said. “I don’t trust anyone else to deliver my eulogy.”

A smile curled her lips. “You’ve written it already?”

“It’s very good. You’d be surprised how many synonyms there are for handsome.”

Zoya closed her eyes. She turned her face, letting her cheek rest against his palm. “Nikolai—”

“It’s fear that makes your father act as he does, that makes men write foolish rules that say you can’t travel alone or ride as you wish to.”

The other girl bit back a laugh. “Why should they be afraid? The world belongs to them.”

“But think of all the things we might achieve if we were allowed to do the things that they do.”

“You made us seem weak. Every time we behave that way, it just makes it easier for men to look at us and see nothing but softness.”

“There is nothing wrong with softness,” Nina said, her temper fraying.

“Just a moment,” David said, planting a finger on the page to mark his place in his book. “What was your name?”

“Yuri Vedenen, moi soverenyi.”

“Yuri Vedenen, if you upset my wife again, I will kill you where you stand.”

The monk swallowed. “Yes, moi soverenyi.”

“Oh, David,” Genya said, taking his hand. “You’ve never threatened to murder anyone for me before.”

“Haven’t I?” he murmured distractedly, placed a kiss on her knuckles, and continued reading.

She wished Inej were here beside her, that the Wraith were somewhere in all this silence. Nina longed for her stillness, her kindness.

I failed you, Matthias. I wasn’t strong enough to save you.

Little red bird, every day you choose the work of living. Every day you choose to go on. There is no failure here, Nina.

The demon inside knew him well, but now Nikolai knew the demon too.

Anything worth doing always starts as a bad idea.