A Light in the Flame

“What you did to protect me isn’t why I feel that way. I wanted to be more to you than a Consort in title only before I learned about that. What it did was help me understand a bit of what I saw. We don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to. But know that if you don’t kill her, I will find a way to do it myself.”

“I don’t know why death smells like that, but lilacs are special. They represent renewal, and both life and death are that—a renewal. If you ever see lilacs like this near water in the mortal realm, you can be assured that you’re near a gateway to Iliseeum—to Dalos, in particular.”

“Only the Primal of Life can wield the kind of eather that can kill a nymph. It’s the same kind of power that can kill another Primal.”

“Heartmates usually only occur between two people whose unions are linked to some great purpose.”

“I cannot wait to hear your rationale on this. I’m sure it involves something along the lines of: I do what I want because I can and fuck the consequences.”

“I guess every aspect of one’s life is somehow connected—every choice to do or not do something creates a chain reaction. You can’t help but wonder exactly how much is preordained.”

“The Primal of Life is the most powerful being in all the realms, usurping all other Primals and gods.”

“All you’ve proven is what I’ve told you before. That one decent and kind bone I have in me belongs to you.”

“The powerful, beautiful poppies that also remind me of hope. Those poppies are the hope of life. The power of those embers. Proof that life cannot be defeated, not even in death.”

“They don’t need to say anything for me to know! Look, the last thing I need to do is make them more unhappy with me. And I don’t want to. They already have every reason to dislike me. They’re loyal to you, and I’m just the Consort you never wanted—who planned to kill you. If they had their way, I wouldn’t be here.” I stepped around him and continued down the hall, the exhaustion from earlier returning. “It is what it is.”

“He may be eons older than me, and he may have the entire Court and most—if not all—of the Primals behind him, but if he makes even one move toward you, I will leave the entire City of the Gods in ruins.”

“Just because someone shares the same bloodline as you doesn’t mean they deserve your time or thoughts.

“But none of your choices are preordained. Fate is not absolute. Fate is only a series of possibilities.”

“Kolis believes all mortals should be in service to the Primals and gods. That their lives should be dedicated to appeasing the whims of those more evolved than they are. That those who do not worship the Primals with dedication and respect should be punished. He has already ordered the Primals and gods to punish mortals more harshly, even for the simplest indiscretions. You may not have seen this play out in your kingdom yet, or were simply unaware, but failure to even bow before a statue of a Primal could result in death in other places.”

“From the moment I learned that I no longer had to answer to a duty I never had a choice in accepting, I became my own person. Someone who gets to make their own choices. I will not be ordered about and told what I can and cannot do as if I have no power or control over my life, no matter what risks I may be taking. I am done living like that.”

“Primal wards that make them very difficult to break. The bones will even hold a Primal once weakened. The only thing they have no effect on is a being of two worlds.”

“She’s not the enemy at the end of the day. You should know that. But if you don’t, all you have to do is go back out onto the Rise and look at the lives lost.”

“What he means to say is that such a thing, a Primal of both Life and Death, is not meant to exist. It would be unthinkable for the embers of both to thrive in one being. But if they could? The kind of power they’d wield? It would be truly absolute. They could unravel realms in the same breath they created new ones.”