Extraits

“I figured you should have something both beautiful and functional, like you."

He said it so quickly that it almost didn't register. I whipped my head around to look at him. "Max," I breathed, touching my heart with exaggerated awe, "you think I'm functional?"

A dancing smile glinted in his eyes. "I think," he said, "that you are breathtakingly functional.”

“And, most valuable of all, she had the gift that her mother had given her: permission to do whatever it took to survive, without apology, without regret. She would do absolutely anything, except cry.”

“I wanted him in so many ways. As a friend, as a kindred soul, as a fierce teammate. As skin and lips and teeth. As a hitched breathless moan in the darkness or a lazy embrace in the sunrise. I wanted that. I wanted it all.”

“The way I look at it,” he said, very solemnly, so quietly that his words slipped into the air like steam, “you didn’t forget what you were. I think you remembered. And I hope no one ever again has the fucking audacity to tell you otherwise.”

I didn’t even think to be self-conscious until I turned around to see Max standing completely still in the water. He looked like he wasn’t even breathing, his searing gaze hurling an arrow through my chest — the intensity of it paralyzing me.

We had won, the Strategasi had said. Weren’t we supposed to be happy? I was too young to know the truth then. That victory meant another’s defeat, and sometimes our own defeat. That winning meant sacrifices, and sometimes ones that even our own people were not willing to make. That in war, someone always paid.

“I thought living in the middle of nowhere meant that I didn’t have to lock my doors. What did I ever do to make my house so welcoming?” Max’s voice, rough with sleep, approached from the hallway. “I really tried to be as unpleasant as possible.”

Men want power because it makes them feel good. Women want power because it lets us do things.

I opened my eyes and looked into Max's, cloudy and blue, a reflection of my own." Because if I allow myself to be angry, I will never stop."

He leaned closer. So close his nose brushed mine, so close I could count his eyelashes. And so close that I felt his warm breath across my face as he smiled and said, with the viciousness of smoke and steel. "Good".

I arched an eyebrow. "Really? Nothing with water ?"I intentionally infused the shade of a dare into my voice. As much time as Max spent instructing me, I had never seen him perform much magic of his own. And now, after yesterday, I was more curious than ever.

"Some things." He looked at me like he knew exactly what I was doing. It was always the same skeptical look:pinched eyes slightly narrowed, mouth pursed towards one side.

"Like what?"

He paused, as if deciding whether to accept my challenge.

Then that wary look gave way to a more focused spark, and I knew I had him. He moved a few steps into more shallow territory, until the water lapped around his waist instead of his chest. Then he flattened his hands at the glassy surface.

At first, there was nothing. Then. bubbles started to rise around him, faster and faster, like the water was leaping to a boil.

Or...

A particularly childish image popped into my head and refused to leave.

I couldn't help myself. I pinched my nose. " Max !" I breathed, aghast. " In Threll, it is very rude to do that in front of others."

For a moment, Max just looked confused. Then realization wept over his face. " Tisaanah... Ascended help me, was that a fart joke ?"