shifu (hiatus) > Books: favourite-worlds‎ (30)

"What are the circumstances behind the person who became the world's greatest villainess?"

"What are the circumstances behind the person who became the world's greatest villainess?"

"I once had a thousand desires,
But in my one desire to know you,
all else melted away"
- Jalal al-Din Rumi

"The rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorns.
- Jalal al-Din Rumi"

A trickle of blood slid down his arm.
He felt nothing. He only saw it.
Because nothing hurt like missing her.

Khalid bowed deeply, touching his fingertips to his brow. “I wish you happiness, Vikram Singh.”
“And I you, meraa dost—my greatest friend.”

“And now, so do I. Keep watch over your shadow, Khalid-jan. Because, for the first time in eighteen years, I won’t be there to watch it for you.”

Shahrzad knew it was Khalid. She sensed rather than saw him.
As always. As ever. As a rose to the sun.
Her knees shook. A chill ran from the nape of her neck to the soles of her feet.
“Shahrzad?”
Low and unassuming. Unmistakable. When Shahrzad met his gaze, everything around her melted away. Even the driving rain came to a sudden standstill.
A moment suspended in time. A pair of amber eyes across a balcony.
And there was no more fear. No more worry. No more judgment.
Her knees no longer shook. Her heart steadied in her chest.
In that moment of perfect balance, she understood. This peace? These worries silenced without effort?
It was because they were two parts of a whole. He did not belong to her. And she did not belong to him. It was never about belonging to someone.
It was about belonging together.

The last thing he saw was her face.
In the end, there was only love.
So much more than he deserved.

“I’ve missed the silence of you listening to me.” Shahrzad attempted a weak smile. “No one listens to me as you do.” His expression turned quizzical. “You don’t wait to speak,” she clarified. “You truly listen.” “Only to you,” Khalid replied gently.”

One hundred lives for the one you took. One life to one dawn. Should you fail but a single morn, I shall take from you your dreams. I shall take from you your city.

And I shall take from you these lives, a thousandfold.

“What are you doing to me, you plague of a girl?” he whispered.
“If I’m a plague, then you should keep your distance, unless you plan on being destroyed.” The weapons still in her grasp, she shoved against his chest.
“No.” His hands dropped to her waist. “Destroy me.”

“Love is—a shade of what I feel.”

“Shazi,

I prefer the color blue to any other. The scent of lilacs in your hair is a source of constant torment. I despise figs. Lastly, I will never forget, all the days of my life, the memories of last night—
For nothing, not the sun, not the rain, not even the brightest star in the darkest sky, could begin to compare to the wonder of you.

Khalid.”

Elian says. “When I marry, it won’t be about power.”
“What will it be, then?”
“Sacrifice.”
“You’re right,” I tell him, trying to shake the melancholy from my voice. “Spending a lifetime with you would be a sacrifice.”
“Oh?...What would you be losing?” he asks.
“If I married you?” I stand to tower above him, pushing away the unraveling thing inside me. “I suppose it would be my mind.”

“How strange that instead of taking his heart, I'm hoping he takes mine.”

“Annabeth's voice caught on the word friend. Percy was a lot more than that. Even boyfriend really didn't cover it. They'd been through so muc

“Annabeth's voice caught on the word friend. Percy was a lot more than that. Even boyfriend really didn't cover it. They'd been through so much together, at this point Percy was part of her--a sometimes annoying part, sure, but definitely a part she could not live without.”