A Fire in the Flesh

“I know who you are, Sera, and what you mean to me. And that is everything because you are everything to me. And that will never change.”

“It’s not every day that one learns their sister has truly returned to them.”

“You have a real fucked-up, unhelpful way of showing your loyalty.”

“Primals cannot sense one another when we’re in our nota forms—when we take the shape of the animal we find ourselves most connected to. Just as Kolis didn’t sense him in his wolf form.”

“But if you handling it doesn’t actually handle it? And they still show you disrespect? I will fucking destroy them.”

“The embers are bonding with you, allowing you to access more of the essence. It happens when gods near their Ascension, just as it does with Primals.”

“Fates, Sera, I…I love you.”

“I knew what Eythos did before Kolis or Nyktos figured it out. Eythos and I were brothers in a way that he and Kolis never were. Friend. And I was one of the few entrusted with the knowledge of what Eythos did.”

“Only a union formed out of love can be blessed. You love him.”

“Those bones, when wielded as a weapon? Prick even the skin of a god? Dead. And because of the embers, if I try to take you through them and you get nicked? Dead. They can even put a Primal into years-long stasis. Nyktos is just as imprisoned by them as you are, and he’s far more guarded.”

“So, there must always be the Primal of Death and the Primal of Life, even if nothing more than a spark of embers remains in them. Even if they are in stasis or…Or hidden within a mortal bloodline. As long as the embers exist in some fashion, and life is created and taken, the balance is maintained.”

“Sotoria’s soul is in you, but you’re not her. And even if Kolis never realizes that, it means you’re not the weapon Eythos believed he created.”

“Because I have not seen life restored—real life, with my own eyes—since Eythos. But more than that? I never thought his plan would work. Restoring life to a hawk is one thing, but a draken? Eythos was under the impression that the embers would protect you and maybe give you some ability to restore life, but not to that extent. Even before the embers he stole from Eythos died out, Kolis couldn’t bring a draken back.”

“Liessa. I’ve got you. Everything will be all right now. I’ve got you.”

“With my sword and my life. I swear to you, the One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon, to honor your command.”

“It’s from the oldest of our language. Toria had a few meanings. One meant garden. Another could be loosely translated into pretty flower. But a more exact translation is poppy.”

“I…I don’t know much about love, or anything really. But love should inspire one to indulge in more than just violence and death.”

“Loving someone isn’t…it isn’t less than being in love. It’s just not as strong or as irrevocable. Loving someone can change. It can grow into being in love, and it can fade. Being in love…it doesn’t do that. It only gets stronger, and you would do anything for that person. Anything. Being in love is…it’s unbreakable.”