Elise Kova Quotes

Aldrik didn't look at her as she slipped back into her armor. It was a short walk but the last thing she wanted was to leave a man's tent - the crown prince's tent - less dressed than when she came in.

I will ride with you tomorrow," he promised. "Don't ride with anyone else. Stay by my side.

To hack away at the oppressive darkness that continued to try to smother her so she could defend a new dawn.

But if we wait on this wedding, you can make my dress crimson. I will not wear gold if my Imperial nobility is bought with the blood of innocent civilians who died while I had a party.

Just because something isn't right, doesn't make it wrong.

They were an equal match with his heartbeat in the back of her mind. His combat prowess flowed through her veins, coupled with the skill Vhalla had gained from months of her own training. They both missed the slack-jaw amazement from the other soldiers. That the Windwalker danced toe-to-toe with one of the greatest sorcerers in the world, that she could best Aldrik as often as he bested her, that the prince seemed to find amusement - even joy - and not frustration at that fact.

She'd wanted to become someone the Senate would fear. Why not shatter the sky? "Well,

Love is far better to know, even if it slips from your grasp or doesn't bear fruit like you'd hoped. People who say they regret love, true love, are just bitter liar.

You are a symbol, Vhalla. And, despite what some may have you believe, you have more control over what you symbolize than anyone else.

Adulthood just meant finding the variety of crazy that resonated the most with you and doing it until you died or it killed you - whichever came first. "Where

Fritz . . ." Grahm stared up at his man, who was doing a better job of holding Grahm than holding his own emotions together. "I'm glad I could see you again."

"Me, too."

"I love you," Grahm whispered.

"And I love you." Tears fell from Fritz's eyes. "Now, don't die.

I love him, but I am only death. I am death to everyone I love. Someday I will be the death of him.

You bastard." The words were out before she even had time to consider them, but after spoken she hardly regretted them.
"What did you say?" Prince Aldrik snarled.
"You, my prince ," she sneered in kind. "You are a self-centered, egotistical, self-absorbed, narrow-sighted, vain, self-important," she felt her anger finally reach its boiling point, "conceited bastard !" Vhalla cried out.

Home. This magnificent palace had been her home since she was eleven. She'd came to it as a farmer's daughter, and now she'd leave it as a soldier.

Aldrik - the crown prince, the future Emperor, Fire Lord, ruler of the Black Legion, sorcerer - was only a man. And men could be broken.

What does this have to do with me?" It was interesting history, but she didn't know why it was relevant. "Why did the West want Windwalkers?" Lord Ophain returned her question with a question. She was beginning to see where Aldrik got his teaching style from.

It would be torture. But it would be the most beautiful torture they had ever known.

I've always loved watching you sleep. Seeing you at peace." He brushed hair lovingly away from her face. "I plan to do it forever."
"Even now?" she whispered, wanting to hear the words between his words.
"Even now," he affirmed.

After that, the Heartbreaker Prince began to have an easier time earning smiles from her. If she did well, he would squeeze her hand. When her eyes finally lifted away from her haphazard movements, she was rewarded with a wink. Slowly, under the prince's hand and earnest encouragement, Vhalla began to enjoy herself.

Aldrik laughed darkly. "What did you think I was?" he snarled. "Did you think I went to war and read books?" Vhalla took another step back. "You ran head-first into my daily hell. Would it not be more convenient if weapons of death and torture could not talk back?" Vhalla forced herself not to tremble as she looked at him. He glared at her; the orange of the fire reflecting in the black mirrors of his eyes.
With all the bravery she possessed, Vhalla crossed the distance between them; he straightened and looked down at her, imposing. Vhalla swallowed hard and tried to muster her last scrap of confidence. There would be time later to ask him about the real reasons behind the war. For now, they needed to go home.
She grabbed his hand, praying it didn't burst into flames at her touch. It didn't.
"Quit being stupid, Aldrik. Let's go." His features barely softened, but it was more than enough to know she had made herself clear. Whatever this man was, he wasn't a monster.

I can't go back, and neither can you. We both have to move forward and find what beauty we can in the world as it is." Daniel

I was raised in a world where I had thousands of friends, each one waiting for me on a shelf every day.

Stop. Stop trying to make the illusion of strength. You don't need it. Not here. Not now. Let yourself be sad until the real strength returns.

Vhalla was there the moment her prince became her Emperor. He turned back to her helplessly. For the first time in the whole of knowing him, Aldrik looked lost, shell-shocked. She tried to offer him an encouraging smile, but there was only one thing to be done. She had something more important to give him than her smiles. Vhalla dropped to her knee before the Emperor of the realms.
"Long live Solaris.

Nothing made sense, and she would have him until it did.

Reading the books, I've always loved reading. It was easier than talking. Like a child playing games.

I want a place you hardly dare to even whisper. I want the bravery to not only read, but to do. I want a man, not a library boy. A man who is tall and witty and knows more about the world than you would ever dare dream.

My brother played with spell-books, I played with swords. One gives you paper cuts, the other removes your fingers.

My lady," he whispered in awe. "My lady!

People didn't change when asked by others, no matter how important the asker was. True change had to come entirely from within.

She had to survive if for no other reason than to spite the world.

Kova, Elise. Fire Falling (Air Awakens Series Book 2)

I have yet to discover if you will be my salvation or my demise.

You can read all the books in this library, be wiser than the master himself someday, and then you will die having never really done anything. You will have only ever lived through everyone else's experiences.

He tasted of sweet liquor and every delicious dark dream she'd ever had.

Now that she had him, all she wanted was him.

It was not a beautiful sleep; it was a deep and worn out coma. Vhalla's face was flat against a pillow, her mouth open, and her breathing deep. Aldrik splayed out on the bed, limbs this way and that barely fitting alongside her. It was a sleep that rested in the comfort that they had one less thing to fear with the dawn.

You have to earn it.' Vhalla didn't know what else to say. She had trusted him, to lead her, to teach her, and he broke that trust. It wasn't as though it was something she could simply start again on command.

She was going to be lost if she wasn't able to use his skin as a roadmap back to sanity.

She longed for the days where her biggest decision was what book to read first.

Vhalla," he whispered with a voice as dark as midnight. His nose was almost touching hers.
"Aldrik," she breathed faintly, as though it was a prayer. No word had ever tasted sweeter on her tongue.

She waited for him to say something more. The silence held ciphers of truths that lingered between them, written in a script that neither knew yet how to decipher. This would not be the moment they were given sound.

You're not like most of them, are you?" Prince Baldair's voice was softer than she had heard it before, the jest and levity absent. "Most of them?" she repeated, bracing herself for a parrot comment. "You're not the first low-born I have invited to lunch." He leaned back in his chair, food forgotten. "They come in, swoon over my chambers, prattle about the food endlessly, try everything they can to make eyes at me. By the end of it all, they're belly up and bare on the bed.

Do you hold any feelings for me in your heart? Is there a single ember of love that I might, honorably, fan to life once more?

Well, if my crime is love, then I am indeed guilty

She was tired of being a symbol. Symbols were stagnant, frozen, representative, and spurring of action but never the action itself.

Don't tell me." Shades of a healthy Baldair returned as he wheezed for breath. "You two did the do on my couch.

Hang in there. Let me save something, make it, instead of break it

He wanted her closer, or so he had said. It put butterflies in her stomach as much as it put alarms in her head.

Then I realized I just wanted you around. My days were better when they involved you. I enjoyed your thoughts. It was thrilling to see you discover magic. You had a mad hopefulness about sorcery that I have not felt in almost a decade. I started finding excuses to take you away, not because you needed my teaching but because, because I wanted to see you. I looked forward to our meetings and - like that, Vhalla - your opinion mattered to the crown prince of the Empire. You mattered for who you were, not for your magic and what some dusty texts say Windwalkers may or may not be able to do.

Wait," she paused, "you slept on the couches?" Vhalla rolled onto her side to look up at him. "Of course." His brow furrowed slightly. "Did you think I would creep into your bed as you slept and spend the night lying with you without your permission?

Tell me, Vhalla, what's it like to find out your prince is a coward? Is weak? Is scared? Is wicked? Is - " "Human," she said firmly.

I told you this would never be easy, I warned you. I begged you to spare my heart if you weren't ready for this fight.

It doesn't matter who she was. It matters who she can become.

She had thought she knew what war was, but as their empty eyes and too-thin bodies etched themselves onto her soul, Vhalla realized she knew nothing at all. They were all boys and girls playing at war, writing their own songs the bards would sing. But the bards never sang about this. Suddenly the faces of the people she had killed came back to her. We are monsters.

The prince closed the tent flap behind him and did a short circle around her, assessing Vhalla from head to toe. "Sit." He motioned to a chair. "Or perhaps you'd rather I threw some pillows on the floor?" Vhalla's eyes widened, hearing the meaning between his words. "You look uncomfortable." The prince paused, his eyes reading hers. "I would think you'd be more at ease in a prince's tent. Or is it just my brother's?" "What do you want?" she demanded. "Today, I saw him in you." Baldair squinted his eyes, as if he was trying to imagine Aldrik imposed atop her. "The way you moved, the way you were rushed by the fight. Tell me, is that the only way he's been in you?

The prince's strength was often touted as being physical. But Vhalla was beginning to learn that the man known for breaking hearts seemed to have a rather large one of his own.

Vhalla wasn't exactly good at relationships as she preferred to spend more time with books than people.

He traded his freedom for mine," she whispered. "He was a reckless fool, and I was a girl pulled along by puppet strings. The fire burned too hot, and we didn't notice until it consumed everything.

As Jax went to knock on the door, she nearly stopped him. But the opportunity was eliminated as his knocks faded into silence. "Who?" A sleep-hazy voice called. "Your blushing princess," Jax called in a girlish falsetto. "Go away, Jax.

Aldrik," she said stubbornly, "I survived the Night of Fire and Wind, an assassination attempt, a fall from the Pass, a run alone through the North." Vhalla took a step away and pulled his hands from her shoulders. "I've killed more people than I have fingers. I'm not the girl you found in the library, and I can protect myself.

I am a spoiled prince. No matter how unfair it may be, I do not do well being denied something I want, even if it's self-inflicted. I have hurt you, I have put you in harm's way, and I will continue to ask this and more of you the longer you stay near me. Yet knowing this, I seem to want you closer even when sense tells me the opposite.

Larel's voice was sad and sincere. "Aldrik's been through a good deal, much of which he's never even imparted to me. But I've seen the edges of the darkness he shoulders. I don't think he worries for his sanity or his mortality. He doesn't want you to die because he's afraid that it would mean he'd have to live without you.

You're right about it all. I wanted you. The moment I found out what you were, I wanted you like a prize to be captured and put on my shelf. And you, Vhalla, you made it so easy to manipulate you to walk right where I wanted you. You, with your transparent innocence.

Then it shall be a fruit that will ripen with time and patience.

Even something very small can cast a large shadow when it is close to the sun.

You, you are not so chained. And so you see the world with eyes that I could never have. You have hopes that no one else would allow themselves to dream of." Elecia gave the tiniest of smirks. "Forgive me, but I wish not to sway your actions in this matter. I want to see what you will do. I want to know what kind of Empress you will be.

Is it a good idea to ride like this?" Vhalla asked softly, noticing the glances from the soldiers. "I want them to see you with me." He responded so quickly that there couldn't have been any thoughts into his words. "Why?" she breathed. "Because I want them to know that if they lay a hand on you again, they will deal with me directly.

Magic, she was discovering, was like poetry. Once you understood the logic, the meter, the rhyme behind it, you could embellish upon it and make it your own. On

They are the ships, and you are the wind. You do no lower yourself to their rules or expectations. You blow in whatever direction you feel is needed and leave them with no choice but to oblige.

He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Take care, lest I have to burn the Crossroads to the ground in a rage."
Vhalla laughed softly, very well realizing that it may not entirely be a jest. She grinned up at him playfully. "Take care yourself, lest I have to blow the Crossroads away in a rage.

You two move well together," Baldair said ineloquently. "Must have great sex," Jax snickered from Aldrik's right. "Jax!" Baldair groaned.

Because our love is more than something I can wear. Our time is far greater than what can be counted by two hands and some numbers. Because, even without it, I still have you.

You won't ever have everyone love you, just as you won't have everyone hate you. find the right people to love you and return the hatred of others with ambivalence or hatred of your own.

I've always been ... charming." Prince Baldair smiled at her, and she didn't even refrain from rolling her eyes.

Erion, how many times must I tell you not to bring me wild women until after dark? It's distracing." A man grinned wickedly.

She didn't make him out to be perfect. Vhalla knew Aldrik was horribly flawed. But so was she. He was prone to anger and she prone to selfishness. But they strove together to be better, for themselves and for each other.

Vhalla blushed and averted her eyes from his handsome face. "It's still a poor choice," she whispered. "It always will be." Aldrik stood. Her breath quickened by his proximity alone. He hooked his fingers under her chin and pulled her face upward gently. "If you want to make the widely accepted appropriate decision, then leave now, have mercy and end this before you entice me further. Because I promise, this will never be easy - for either of us - and I refuse to love you halfway.

I was fine before," Vhalla protested.
"You were boring. You were worse than boring. You were normal and content. I gave you a chance for greatness." He looked at her harshly.

Would you, Lady Vhalla Yarl, like to someday be the Empress Vhalla Solaris?

Oh? Did you think he was some paragon of purity? I've seen him kill girls younger than you. I've seen him wind women up to crawl to his bed.

I am going to go into this world, and I don't care if you and your narrow mind cannot be a part of it.

Just like that, the world changed. Aldrik held out both hands before her and helped her to her feet. Vhalla stood, not as a common-born library girl, a soldier, a sorcerer, or a lady, but as an Empress.

What are you wrapped up in?' Roan whispered. Her anger and frustration had shifted to a sympathy that grated Vhalla.'I'm simply learning where I'm meant to be.' It was the only response because it was the truth.

Every chance worth taking will make you a little scared. That means you're taking a risk. And where there is risk, there is reward.

How many times would she follow the prince into darkness, trusting his light to guide her?

Fire needs sure to live. Sure field fire, strikes it, and makes it burn brighter and hotter than it are could alone. But too much air will sniff it completely, just as too many flames will consume all the air.They are far greater that the Sun of their parts together, but are equally as dangerous to each other's existence.

What is wrong is that you cannot learn how to do things from books...They are starting points for principle, theory, and concept. Your mind understands, but your body does not know until you perform the act yourself. Without action and practice, your hands will not oblige. Experience is a far greater teacher.

Either way, consider me your sword, Vhalla Yarl."
"Then consider me your wind.

I met Grahm there as well . . . One day, I walked in, and my table was taken. Now, the old me would've just sat somewhere else. But that was my table, and my friendship with Larel had made me bold. Plus, he was really, really cute.

There was something severed and rough about her, something tainted and, yet, at the same time those jagged pieces were the makings of something fearsome. She'd wanted to become someone the Senate would fear, why not shatter the sky?

You foolish idiot," he suddenly rasped, drawing himself to his feet. "You went without orders from your superior. You ignored the call. You could have killed yourself, you dumb girl." Vhalla shrunk back as though he'd slapped her. "And you stopped the storm." He sat heavily on the edge of her bed. Without hesitation, Aldrik reached up and cupped her cheek gently. "You foolish, amazing, astounding woman, you saved us all.

When was the last time you were in camp? Have you not seen more wings painted than rays of the Solaris sun?" Jax's eyes fell on her watch, and Vhalla instinctually grabbed it. "You were not born to be their leader, you were chosen. And that has far greater weight.

Progress was never meant to be stinted, and even failures weren't to be destroyed.

You wished for time," Aldrik explained. "I heard each utterance when you beseeched time to stop, for mornings not to come. I want you to know I shared your every sentiment. I wanted to give you the promise of my minutes, my hours, my days." His long fingers curled around hers, around the watch. "My future is yours, Vhalla Yarl.

We all know the story. We heard it not long after the Night of Fire and Wind. You were the low born library girl turned sorceress who rode with princes.

Florence took a deep breath. It expanded her lungs, making more room for the crippling fear that locked her knees in place. Then she exhaled it, and moved forward. "Yes,

You just assaulted the crown prince." He glared, but he saw the tell-tale glimmer of mischief in his eyes. "Vhalla, I think that violates the terms of your probation."

"Oh? Tell me what will you do to me?" She did her best to imitate one of his trademark smirks, and she was rewarded by the spark turning to a fire in his eyes.

"I could think of quite a few things to do to you." His voice was gravely and deep, and Vhalla felt a flush rise to her cheeks.

At least if I am to die, then it would be as someone I can look in the mirror.

He would still be that man with whom she had sat on a rooftop at the Crossroads. A man who would have been hers if the stars constellated a different design for her heart.

Vhalla gave the tiniest of smiles when her eyes fell on Fritz, and he risked breaking his wrist with his frantic, not so subtle waving.