Children of Fallen Gods (The War of Lost Hearts Book 2) Carissa Broadbent (best book recommendations txt) 📖

to think the day would never come that we could pay back those Threllian pricks.”

“It won’t be so simple,” Riasha said. “The Threllians were powerful enough to conquer seven nations at the height of their military prowess. Even with the Arans’ army…”

“You’ve seen what she can do.” Filias nodded at me, and a stone fell through my stomach.

What could I do, now? Nothing? Was I anything without Reshaye?

No. There was something else inside of me. I knew it — I could feel it. Reshaye’s presence had left an imprint on Max’s magic, one just as powerful as what I Wielded. Surely it had done the same to mine.

If it didn’t…

There is no “if,” I told myself. There is something, and you will find it.

“Riasha is right,” I said, carefully hiding my trepidation. “I need to do further negotiations with Nura, and work out the logistics. No matter what power we have, in a head-to-head battle with the Threllian military, we will lose. But the Threllians’ greatest weakness is their hubris. Even worse now, after fifteen years of comfort. They may have fine armor, but everything inside has gotten soft.”

“And who knows their inner workings better than we do?” Serel said, and Filias let out a short laugh, as if overwhelmed by what he was hearing.

“Gods below. I never fucking thought we would be saying any of this.”

“Let’s not get too hasty,” Riasha started, but before she could finish, there was a mighty crash as a small figure burst into the room, moving so fast it was little more than a smear.

“Thio!” she exclaimed, though the little boy paid no attention. “You little monster, how many times have I—”

Thio let out a laugh and then, with no hesitation, wriggled onto Max’s lap. He waved to me. “Hello.”

“Hello,” I replied.

“Excuse you,” Max muttered, in Aran, to the child, but seemed fully unbothered as he shifted to hold the boy securely. Easily, as if it were second nature. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged.

“Five younger siblings, Tisaanah,” he said, and I chuckled.

Riasha looked from Max to me apologetically. “I’m sorry, my grandson is a terror.”

“No need to apologize,” I started.

Max waved away Riasha’s apologies. “Is fine. He can stay.”

He said it in Thereni.

My eyes went round. Max made a show of looking very casual, though he gave me a sly, too-pleased-with-himself look out of the corner of his eye.

Serel, Riasha, and Filias shot each other confused glances. Filias in particular seemed as if he was frantically trying to recall whether he had said anything offensive.

“When did you learn Thereni?” I hissed, in Aran.

“I had a lot of alone time when I was out on the front. Not how I wanted to show you, but…” His gaze flicked away, slightly bashful. Then he cleared his throat and looked to Filias.

“Tisaanah is correct,” he said, in broken Thereni. “In direct fight, we lose. But only if is…ah…” He struggled to find the right word, releasing Thio just long enough to spread his hands out. “All. Together. So, we do not do that.” A satisfied smile spread over his lips, barely suppressed. “We fight them separated.”

His word choice was clumsy, but I understood his meaning. “It isn’t hard to turn the Threllian Lords against each other,” I said. “Especially now. They’ve gone so long without a collective enemy that their main concern is wrestling power from each other. We use that.”

I did not look at Max, but I could feel his gaze — could feel the spark of admiration. Riasha was nodding, thinking to herself, and Filias put his hands behind his head.

“Don’t care how we do it,” he said. “As long as we win.”

We will, I wanted to say. I swear it to you. But that promise caught in my throat, leaden with uncertainty.

There was another crash and flurry of clumsy footsteps, and two more children flew into the room with chaotic shouts. Thio immediately leapt from Max’s grasp, kicking him in the stomach in the process, and joined the two other children in the center of the room.

“Not fair!” Thio shouted. “It was my turn to Wield next!”

It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at:

One of the children, a little girl, had smeared dirt on one side of her face. She was throwing paper playfully at Thio. Not just paper, I realized. Paper butterflies.

She was pretending to be me.

A lump rose in my throat. When I looked back at Filias, he was watching me carefully.

“What a silly game,” I said, but my voice sounded choked, and Filias’s gaze softened.

“Silly as hells,” he said. “But I’ll admit that you did good, Tisaanah.”

I gave him a weak smile.

I hoped good was enough.

It was nearly sundown. I pulled my jacket closer around me — Ara was getting cold. After Filias and Riasha, there were others to visit, more refugees who wanted to speak to me. “One more thing,” I kept saying to Max. And eventually, he just responded with a deadpan stare.

“You can barely stand. Hell, I can barely stand. Let’s go.”

“But there’s just—”

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a one-track mind?” He tilted my chin towards him. “You can’t save the world just yet. But we’ll be back. Hey. Look at them.” He nodded towards the people in the streets. The buildings, while run down, were slowly being repaired and decorated. Before, this place had been tense and empty. Now, children played outside. Old women sipped tea at little tables. People tended potted gardens.

“They’re living their lives,” he said, quietly. “And they still will be when you get back.”

I wasn’t sure why my eyes were stinging, but I nodded silently, and took Max’s hand. Then I paused, giving him a sidelong glance.

“What?” he said.

“You learned Thereni.”

He looked away, a shade of embarrassed. “Poorly. Mostly in books. I’m sure my pronunciation is a mess. I just thought…” His gaze slid back to me. When he spoke next, it was in fractured, heavily accented Thereni. “Always, you