Kate Avery Ellison

Strength?_ __afety,_ I said. And in that moment I realized that I__ always equated the two in my head, but they weren__ the same thing. Sometimes people were strongest at their most vulnerable, dangerous moments.

I laughed under my breath, and it sounded bitter. __isten to me. What am I talking about, worth it? Is any experience or bit of beauty worth the cost of my life? I know nothing but safety and self-preservation at all costs.___nd yet,_ he said softly, __ou__e risking everything to help me.

What about you? What do you do?_ I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I could. My voice sounded strong and smooth, but my hands were shaking. I put them in my lap so he couldn__ see.__ prey on innocent villagers and terrify their children,_ he said with a nasty smile. __nd sometimes when I__ feeling really evil, I read books or paint.

He glanced up once, eyes bored. __lease stop talking. I__ trying to eat.

In answer to a question you asked me not a long ago, a question I didn__ answer at the time_it is worth it. Love is a perilous dance too, you see. And if we stop dancing, we__l die.Don__ ever stop dancing.

You want to break the curse, I want to break the curse. We don't need to be nice. We need to be effective. Just help me figure it out, and I'll make you a rich woman.

You're ruining that book!" He pointed to the page I'd torn out. "That's a perfectly good book!" Holding his gaze, I reached down and ripped another page out. "I'm making roses." "Well, it's my book." "Sorry." I tore out another.

I was blind to the truth. Emotions do that. They make you a fool.

I__ allowed myself to feel love __es, love_ for another person in a way I__ once sworn to myself I never would. I__ become completely vulnerable, and now I__ been torn apart with hurt and catapulted onto a path I might never have taken otherwise. I__ risked my life for an outsider. For a stranger. Worse, I had a feeling I was going to do it again.