Iron Flame

“Who the fuck’s flight jacket are you wearing?”

You’re going to love Violet. She’s smart and stubborn.
Reminds me a lot of you, actually.
You just have to remember when you meet her:
she’s not her mother.
—RECOVERED CORRESPONDENCE OF CADET LIAM MAIRI TO SLOANE MAIRI

“If Solas comes near you again, he knows I will devour his human whole and let him rot within me while his heart still beats, and then I’ll take the eye I so graciously left him.”

“And at one point, you thought gruel was a satisfactory meal, until you grew some teeth and found the rest of the world’s food waiting. Now cease this line of thinking. It does not serve to make you stronger.”

Me,” he whispers, a faint, almost indistinguishable red ring emanating from his gold-flecked onyx irises. “You should be scared of me.”

“What’s out there that I should be scared of, Xaden? What did he tell you? What did you see?” What could he know that has him this shaken?

“You love me,” he whispers.

“You know I do.” I grab hold of his hand, and my stomach twists when he turns toward me but lowers his eyes.

Home. Gods, he tastes like home

“The first year is when some of us lose our lives,” he says softly, tucking my damp hair behind my ear. “The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.

Standing here covered in his blood is better than lying there soaked in mine.