Unhappy am I because this has happened to me? Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.
Chapter 18 - Night Flight
"I've never really said this to you, but now that it's come to this, there are some things that must be said. I really won't have the chance to in the future."
"...Shut up..." Wei Wuxian muttered. "...Release me..."
"I'm sorry," Wen Qing said. "And thank you."
Hangi tür kitapları seviyorsun?
🔎 Polisiye
💕 Romantik
🚀 Bilim Kurgu
🏰 Fantastik
📖 Klasik
🧠 Kişisel Gelişim
🏛️ Tarih
😱 Gerilim
How we think about childhood is intensely bound up in our ideas and understandings of time. To be a parent is to be always looking forward, both in our children’s lives (celebrating milestones as they acquire new skills, chalking up lines on the door frames to measure their growth, imagining what the next stage of parenting will bring) but also in how we think about ourselves, situated on a family tree stretching back into the past and onwards towards future generations. Yet while we might have long-term dreams and fears for the children in our lives, we also live alongside them in the present. When my daughter falls down and scrapes her knee, I respond to her in the here and now, not because I’m thinking about how this will affect her in the future, but because I love her and want to support her through her discomfort. I see her as the person right in front of me, not her future self.
To acknowledge a child’s personhood without invoking their potential as an adult does not mean that their future ceases to be important. We would do the children in our care a disservice to never be thinking about the years to come, just as we as adults think about our own futures too. This is why we might still insist on teeth being brushed, even when the child in front of us doesn’t feel it’s high on their priority list! But we can speak to children about their hopes for the future and how we can support them to meet these, rather than making assumptions about what a ‘good’ future life should look like. It is their lives, after all, not ours.
See you next book
Fight it, he willed her, sending the words down the bond—the mating
bond, which perhaps had settled into place that first moment they’d become
carranam, hidden beneath flame and ice and hope for a better future. Fight
her. I am coming for you. Even if it takes me a thousand years. I will find
you, I will find you, I will find you.
Only salt and wind and water answered him.
Rowan rose to his feet. And slowly turned to face them.
But their attention snagged on the ships now sailing out of the west—
from the battle site. His cousins’ ships, with what remained of the fleet
Ansel of Briarcliff had won for them, and Rolfe’s three ships.
But it was not those boats that made him pause.
It was the one that rounded the eastern tip of the land—a longboat. It
swept closer on a phantom wind, too fast to be natural.
Rowan braced himself. The boat’s shape didn’t belong to any of the
fleets assembled. But its style nagged at his memory.
From their own fleet, Ansel of Briarcliff and Enda were soaring over the
waves in a longboat, aiming for this beach.
But Rowan and the others watched in silence as the foreign boat crested
through the surf and slid onto the sand.
Watched the olive-skinned sailors haul it up the beach. A broadshouldered young man nimbly leaped out, his slightly curling dark hair
tossed in the sea breeze.
He did not emit a whiff of fear as he stalked for them—didn’t even go
for the comforting touch of the fine sword at his side.
“Where is Aelin Galathynius?” the stranger asked a bit breathlessly as
he scanned them.
And his accent …
“Who are you,” Rowan ground out.
But the young man was now close enough that Rowan could see the
color of his eyes. Turquoise—with a core of gold.
Aedion breathed as if in a trance, “Galan.”
How is this rational?
Darrow ignored her and jerked his chin at Aedion. “You’re rather quiet
tonight.”
“I don’t think you particularly want to hear my thoughts right now,
Darrow,” Aedion replied.
“Your blood oath is stolen by a foreign prince, your queen is an assassin
who appoints common whores to serve her, and yet you have nothing to
say?”
Aedion’s chair groaned, and Aelin dared a look—to find him gripping
the sides of it so hard his knuckles were white.
Lysandra, though stiff-backed, did not give Darrow the pleasure of
blushing with shame.
And she was done. Sparks danced at her fingertips beneath the table.
But Darrow went on before Aelin could speak or incinerate the room.
“Perhaps, Aedion, if you hope to still gain an official position in Terrasen,
you could see if your kin in Wendlyn have reconsidered the betrothal
proposition of so many years ago. See if they’ll recognize you as family.
What a difference it might have made, if you and our beloved Princess
Aelin had been betrothed—if Wendlyn had not rejected the offer to formally
unite our kingdoms, likely at Maeve’s behest.” A smile in Rowan’s
direction.
Her world tilted a bit. Even Aedion had paled. No one had ever hinted
that there had been an official attempt at betrothing them. Or that the
Ashryvers had truly left Terrasen to war and ruin.
“Whatever will the adoring masses say of their savior princess,” Darrow
mused, putting his hands flat on the table, “when they hear of how she has
spent her time while they suffered?” A slap in the face, one after another.
“But,” Darrow added, “you’ve always been good at whoring yourself out,
Aedion. Though I wonder if Princess Aelin knows what—”
Aelin lunged.
Not with flame, but steel.
together
“Aelin, you
deserve better than this—than me.” He’d wanted to say it for a while
now.
She didn’t so much as flinch. “Don’t tell me what I do and don’t
deserve. Don’t tell me about tomorrow, or the future, or any of it.”
He took her hand; her fingers were cold—shaking slightly. What do
you want me to tell you, Fireheart?
She studied their joined hands, and the gold ring encircling her thumb.
He squeezed her fingers gently. When she lifted her head, her eyes were
blazing bright. “Tell me that we’ll get through tomorrow. Tell me that
we’ll survive the war. Tell me—” She swallowed hard. “Tell me that
even if I lead us all to ruin, we’ll burn in hell together.”
“We’re not going to hell, Aelin,” he said. “But wherever we go, we’ll
go together.”
