Melanie Holzer’s Reviews > Fallen Gods > Status Update

His grandgrin already has me at ease. ‘First off, you’re perfectly capable of saving your own ass, though it is nice to be needed. And second… I won’t lie to you. Ever. If we burn – we burn together.’
‘You mean it?’ A tear slides down my cheek.
‘With all my soul.’ He nods. ‘Until the last breath leaves my body – and even after that.’

I don’t feel so brave anymore.
I feel less than clever.
I’m small.
I’m just a girl wishing her dad said he was proud, a girl trying to prove herself to a man who will never approve of her or love her. A man who hurts her instead.

‘That’s not true. I just panicked because every single moment I’m with you, I fall hard harder, and I realize I may not be able to do it, Aric! I may not be able to save everyone, and for once I want to be really selfish. I can’t live in a world where you don’t exist!

My lips leave behind a sheen of frost everywhere they touch, like my body’s marking her – claiming her – not with chains or force but with everything I am. With the monster she swears can give her life.
With the choice I never thought I had.
I don’t choose death.
I don’t even choose life.
I choose her.

‘Now can I please… wreck you the way you’ve been wrecking me every night you climb into my bed and cling to me like I’m the only one in the world who makes your heart beat?’

I grin. ‘You’re welcome to try me.’
He leans over, so close it’s almost like he’s kissing my neck. I think I already have.’

her eyes lock on mine. ‘If the monster knows it’s a monster, then it’s capable of being something else, don’t you think?’

his forehead lowers to mine, heat and cold colliding between us. ‘Runes are powerful, Rey. They’re the only thing keeping the monster asleep. Who knows what I’ll become the second they stop suppressing me.’
I swallow hard, the truth burning in my throat. ‘Sometimes I think… I was meant more for the likes of a monster than a man.’

our breaths mingle, the air is steaming between us. The white in his eyes softens, and he doesn’t look like a monster. He’s gorgeous, like lightning trapped under ice. I lift my hand, press it against his, and his grip tightens like he can’t let go.

I rubbed my sore eye. ‘ right, it definitely tracks that I went over to your room, picture lock, grabbed your feisty little body, careful not to forget you’re very Rey-Stjerne-like cat mug, and decided to use you as a teddy bear. Do I look like I want to sleep with a prickly, knife wielding cactus?’