Joan He

Sound the Gong

to future me: i know you hate sad/bitter endings so LISTEN CAREFULLY 

there is a HEA BONUS EPILOGUE at joan's website. password is crow's last 4 words to zephyr - no capitals/spaces/punctuation

Kaitlyn

How do you forget someone whos carved themselves into your bones?

Nowhere. There's nowhere left for me in heaven or on earth. That's the answer, and it scares me. I wish I could share my fear with Crow. I wish he could know all of me. Be with me. Hate me or love me. 

He carried her in his heart. She's the person who never left for him.

I’ve come to realize that I like the second love trope more than I thought I would. THIS HURTS BUT IT’S SO GOOOOOOOOD

His voice is matter-of-fact, neither cold nor impassioned, but because I know what Cricket meant to him, I can hear the underlying emotion, a bottomless occan that makes his fury at me seem shallow in comparison.

Goshhhhh I’m pretty sure this is a miscommunication but since this is a time of war where both characters chose their kingdoms over their love for each other it’s not out of the question that this could be true OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 😩

Instead of remembering the night Crow described—the night I kissed him, then stole the poison—I remember her. Shuaimei. The true object of Crow's affections. For me, he has nothing but hate. And I—I hated him too, right after realizing he was Cicada's spy. But now I feel only empty. That he meant to kill me is ground we've covered. I mind the lies more. Stop, Crow. 

I know you never really grieved me, so stop acting.

He’s so cruel aur em gee ☹️ but I know he’s in anguish too

"Only at your shrine did I come to terms with what had realy happened: The arrow killed you before my poison could. I held it by the shaft, and waited. Guilt had plagued me; I waited for the truth to absolve it. But the guilt stayed. I killed you. The moment I chose between you and my kingdom, I killed you. 

"And even as I am, I will choose again. I will kill you again. I will take back this body and you can haunt me for a turn.” He has no physicality to him, but I swear I can feel his breath on my cheek as he murmurs, "Well, how was that fora try? Did I rattle you?"

This is so funny but so crazy out of context

I already knew the untruth of Crow's sweet nothings. He killed me, for heaven's sake. I steamed him. To be jealous now? Of someone dead? My sobriquet might as well be Pickled Peacock.

"Qilin. My gaze startles to him. “You signed the letter off as Qilin,” Crow muses, my old name almost sounding pretty when he says it.

Even ifour lordesses weren't, we would be enemies for eternity.

It is now a world without Crow, and as I ride, tinier stars appear at my lashes. 

They flick off in the wind as if they never existed.

In this life and every other I forfeited, I choose him.

With my own two hands, I want to destroy him.

He could be dying or already dead, killed by the arrow on course for me. My heart constricts. I shouldn't care. Shouldn't care. Shouldn't care.

Sound the Gong

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