Victoria Aveyard

The thing with heat is, no matter how cold you are, no matter how much you need warmth, it always, eventually, becomes too much.

Risk is part of the game.

Don't lie to a liar,

In school, we learned about the world before ours, about the angels and gods that lived in the sky, ruling the earth with kind and loving hands. Some say those are just stories, but I don't believe that. The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind.

In school, we learned about the world before ours, about angels and gods that lived in the sky, ruling the earth with kind and loving hands. Some say those are just stories, but I don't believe that. The gods rule us still. They have come down from the stars. And they are no longer kind.

And I am revealed for exactly what I am - a particularly stupid fish, moving from hook to hook, never learning my lesson.

But our mercy has a cost, and it might be our lives.

Lightning has no mercy.

To my dismay, he recovers quickly and smoothes his hair. "So you choose him?"That's all this ever was. Jealously. Rivalry. All so shadow could defeat the flame.I have to throw my head back and laugh, feeling the eyes of the brothers on me. "Cal betrayed me, and I betrayed him. And you betrayed both of us, in a thousand different ways." The words are heavy as stone but right. So right. "I choose no one.

Life has simply decided to open the floodgates, trying to drown me in a whirlwind of twists and turns.

He looks like a ghost, haunted by a life suddenly torn away, and I don__ know how to comfort him.

I must freeze my heart to the one person who insists on setting it ablaze.

Cal stares ahead, as if his eyes alone can set the entire world on fire. I think he wants to. That would make this easier.

When his flame falls, my lightning rises, and so on.

I know!" he growls back, his voice guttural. I wonder if all of his fire kind have eyes like his. Eyes that burn and smolder.

Cal's eyes flicker, out to the trees. But he's not looking at the leaves. His gaze is in the past, to something more painful. "She killed my true mother as well. And she'll kill all of us if we let her."The words come out hard and harsh, a rusty blade to saw flesh. They taste wonderful in my mouth. "Not if I kill her first."For all his talents, Cal is not a violent person. He can kill you in a thousand different ways, lead an army, burn down a village, but he will not enjoy it. So his next words take me by surprise."When the time comes," he says, staring at me, "we'll flip a coin."His bright flame has grown dark indeed.

Only his eyes remain the same. Bronze, red-gold, like iron brought to blazing heat.

we're thieves, we're rats. We know when to fight and when to run.