8
" The only thing standing in the way of my restoring the full power of the Underrealm is Daphne herself. Part of me worries I’m not prepared for taking on this Cypher, but at the same time, I am glad for the challenge of a worthy opponent. It will make my victory all the more satisfying.
“What is the best way to defeat her?” I ask Dax. “How do I take her down?”
“Take her down?” he repeats, as if I’ve just said something distasteful.
“You said it yourself. Daphe isn’t like other Boons. She’s a more formidable opponent than—”
“Whoa,” Dax says. “You’re looking at this all wrong. First of all, you can’t think of her as an opponent. That’s you thinking like an Underlord warrior. You’re going to have to take a more human approach. You’re not here to defeat her; you’re here to get her to trust you. You need her to like you. Actually, more than that,” he says with a weird smile. “You’re going to have to get her to fall in love with you.”
I stare at Dax, dumbfounded. He might as well have told me I needed to sprout wings and fly into the sun. “How am I supposed to get her to fall in love with me when I don’t know the first thing about . . . it? Love, I mean.”
Dax sighs like he has no idea of how to explain it to me.
And I thought he was supposed to be my guide. "
― Bree Despain , The Shadow Prince (Into the Dark, #1)
10
" I open the door, expecting to find another feeble human whom I have to appease, but my jaw pops open when I see who is sitting behind the desk in the counselor’s room. “So, honey, how was your first day of school?” he asks.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I quickly shut the door behind me.
“I thought you’d be happier to see your new guidance counselor,” Dax says. He’s wearing a light yellow sweater with brown patches on the elbows and sucking on the end of a . . .
“Is that a pipe?”
He nods. “Not lit, of course. No smoking allowed on campus. I thought it made me look older. What do you think?”
“I think you’re addled. What are you doing here? What if this Mr. Drol comes back?”
“I am Mr. Drol,” he says, raising his eyebrows and biting the end of his pipe. “I am too old to pose as a student like you and Garrick, but I didn’t want to dump you here all on your own, so Simon got me a job instead. His powers of persuasion were quite effective on the administration.”
I nod.
“But the part I didn’t tell him is that this arrangement will give us better opportunities to talk in private. I think I might be recommending twice-weekly counseling sessions for you.” He smiles around the stem of his pipe. “You’re looking quite emotionally disturbed.”
“I feel emotionally disturbed,” I say, sinking into the seat across the desk from him. “You were right; this place is torturous.”
“So what’s this about you picking fights? Do I need to suspend you? "
― Bree Despain , The Shadow Prince (Into the Dark, #1)
14
" He’s not even singing,” Tobin whispers to Daphne. They sit on the other side of the half circle of chairs in the music room. It’s amusing that he thinks I don’t know what he’s saying. I can’t actually hear their words over the singing, but I have spent the weekend mastering the art of lipreading. What isn’t amusing, however, is that Tobin has caught on to the fact that I’m merely moving my own lips along with the rest of the choir. Daphne looks up at me. I stare down at the songbook in my hands. Maybe I should try singing along, but I don’t know how to make my voice do what hers does, even if I want to. I feel her gaze leave me and I glance back at her.
“Maybe he’s just intimidated,” Daphne says. “It’s his first day in the program.”
My hands grow hot at the idea that she thinks I am afraid. I take a deep breath, tempering myself before I set the songbook on fire. "
― Bree Despain , The Shadow Prince (Into the Dark, #1)
