MEGHAN,
I don’t think this letter will ever reach you—I hope it will not—but I’m writing it anyway.
Because you need to know what I attempted; that my oath to you was not in vain,
that my last thoughts, feelings, dreams, everything—were of you.
Meghan Chase. My Iron Queen. I hate the distance that separates us now. The thought
that you are so close, right here in the Nevernever, and I cannot see you, cannot touch
you, is torture. I wish it were something I could fi ght; put my sword through its heart
and watch it die, but wishing for something, even desperately, doesn’t make it so.
Which brings me to the crux of this letter.
I will not live without you. I knew that, when I made my vow under Machina’s tree.
If you had died—and my hand shakes a little when I write that word—I would have
chased your spirit across the universe, to the place where your soul came to rest,
and demanded the keepers of the gates to let me see you once more. But you,
my stubborn, intractable Meghan, you survived, which makes my task that much
easier. Tomorrow, I will begin the journey to honor my vow; I will fi nd a way to be
with you, and I will not stop until I have succeeded or I am gone.
If I succeed in my quest, then you will never see this letter. I hope that it will never see
the light of day. However, if you are reading it now, then it means that I have failed
you. And, if I know him at all, it will be Puck who brings this letter to you. I know he
cares for you deeply, and if he manages to fi nd a way where I have failed, to survive in
the Iron Realm without harm, then you could not do better than Robin Goodfellow.
Eternity is a long time to spend alone, Meghan. Even if I can’t forgive him for what he
did, I will not begrudge your happiness with someone else, even Puck. Especially Puck.
And so, as I come to the end of this letter, I will say only this. I belong to you. Forever.
My journey could take me far, farther then I have ever ventured into the Nevernever,
and what I search for could very well be impossible. But know that I will not give up,
and that every step of the way, I will be thinking of you. I am yours, Meghan, my love.
I will always be your knight.
FAITHFULLY,
—ASH

La première chose qui lui vient à l'esprit, c'est que c'est Bellamy le coupable. Il n'y a que lui qui sache viser avec autant de précision.
Wells se retourne dans un cri, mais ce n'est pas Bellamy qu'il aperçoit. Une rangée de silhouettes indistinctes se dresse au pied de la colline, avec le soleil couchant en arrière-fond. Il manque s'étrangler, le sang figé dans ses veines par l'horreur de cette vision. Il comprend soudainement qui a mis feu au campement, et, accessoirement, qui a enlevé Octavia. ce n'est pas quelqu'un de la Colonie.
Les 100 ont beau être les premiers humains à avoir posé le pied sur Terre depuis trois siècles, ils ne sont pas tout seul.
Certains ne sont jamais partis.

— L’oracle m’a juste dit que mon souvenir serait libéré, sans préciser s’il me reviendrait particulièrement. Si je brise le globe, mon souvenir ne risque-t-il pas de s’évaporer ou d’être absorbé par une créature féerique cachée dans les parages ?
Grimalkin éternua et Ash s’amusa tristement de mes craintes.
— Tu as passé trop de temps parmi nous, murmura Ash.
Qu’entendait-il par là ? Que je me montrais trop soupçonneuse vis-à-vis des fées, ou bien, au contraire, que j’avais parfaitement intégré les règles de leurs jeux ?
Grimalkin grogna avec mépris.
— Toutes les fées ne cherchent pas forcément à te tromper, humaine, dit-il d’une voix lasse. Autant que je sache, l’offre de l’oracle était honnête.

“Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you.”

“Two a.m.' He swallowed, then said, "You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter what, you can count on them. Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail...they'll come for you. It's like, the highest level of friendship.”

“he wasn't the type for displays of affection, either verbal or not. He was disgusted by couples that made out in the hallways between classes, and got annoyed at even the slightest sapppy moments in movies. But I knew he cared about me: he just conveyed it more subtly, as concise with expressing this emotion as he was with everything else. It was in the way he'd put his hand on the small of my back, for instance, or how he'd smile at me when I said something that surprised him. Once I might have wanted more, but I'd come around to his way of thinking in the time we'd been together. And we were together, all the time. So he didn't have to prove how he felt about me. Like so much else, I should just know.”

“But if something was really important, fate made sure it somehow came back to you and gave you another chance.”

“But if everything was always smooth and perfect, you'd get too used to that, you know? You have to have a little bit of disorganization now and then. Otherwise, you'll never really enjoy it when things go right.”

“I don't know. Just because someone's pretty doesn't mean she's decent. Or vice versa. I'm not into appearances. I like flaws, I think they make things interesting.”

“I don't get it,' Caroline said, bemused. 'She's the only one with wings. Why is that?'
There were so many questions in life. You couldn't ever have all the answers. But I knew this one.
It's so she can fly,' I said. Then I started to run.”

“the truth about forever is that it is happening right now”

“Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place.”

“If this was my forever, I wouldn't want to spend it here. ”

“Life can be long or short, it all depends on how you choose to live it. it's like forever, always changing. for any of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. you can never know for sure, so you'd better make every second count. what you have to decide is how you want your life to be. if your forever was ending tomorrow, is this how you'd want to have spent it?”

“What you have to decide... is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you'd want to have spent it? Listen, the truth is, nothing is guaranteed. You know that more than anybody. So dont be afraid. Be alive.”

“We'd start slow, the way we always did, because the run, and the game, could go on for awhile. Maybe even forever.
That was the thing. You just never knew. Forever was so many different things. It was always changing, it was what everything was really all about. It was twenty minutes, or a hundred years, or just this instant, or any instant I wished would last and last. But there was only one truth about forever that really mattered, and that was this: it was happening. Right then, as I ran with Wes into that bright sun, and every moment afterwards. Look, there. Now. Now. Now.”

“But I'd long ago learned not to be picky in farewells. They weren't guaranteed or promised.
You were lucky, more than blessed, if you got a good-bye at all.”

“Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It's so easy in the past tense. ”

“Some people, they can't just move on, you know, mourn and cry and be done with it. Or at least seem to be. But for me... I don't know. I didn't want to fix it, to forget. It wasn't something that was broken. It's just...something that happened. And like that hole, I'm just finding ways, every day, of working around it. Respecting and remembering and getting on at the same time. ”

“What you need, what you deserve, is a guy who adores you for what you are. Who doesn't see you as a project, but a prize. you know?”

“It was just one of those things," I said, "You know, that just happen. You don't think or plan. You just do it.”

“I like flaws. I think they make things interesting.”

“I knew, in the silence that followed, that anything could happen here. It might be too late: again, I might have missed my chance. But I would at least know I tried, that I took my heart and extended my hand, whatever the outcome.
"Okay," he said. He took a breath. "What would you do, if you could do anything?"
I took a step toward him, closing the space between us. "This," I said. And then I kissed him.”

“That was the thing. You never got used to it, the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it's reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you, and it just hits you all over again, that shocking.”

"It's all in the view. That's what I mean about forever, too. For any one of us our forever could end in an hour, or a hundred years from now. You never know for sure, so you'd better make every second count."

“It's just that...I just think that some things are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It's the universe's way of providing contrast, you know? There have to be a few holes in the road. It's how life is.”