Home > Work > The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence, #1)
1 " As I fished for my keys, Brand said, a little hesitantly, "That woman. The fake seer. She didn't bother you too much with what she said, right?""Nah," I mumbled.He watched my face closely. "'Nah'?"I gave him a little smile and bumped his shoulder."Don't smile at me," Brand said. "You're still a dumb-ass. "
― K.D. Edwards , The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence, #1)
2 " My name is Rune Saint John. I am, before anything else, a survivor: "
3 " What is it we need to talk about, Lord Sun?”“Matthias, this isn’t an eighties sitcom. I can’t casually accept an orphan into my house for comic relief. "
4 " Don’t you do it, Rune,” Brand said without having to ask what I was thinking. “Don’t you fucking dare.”“I’m just going to wait. Over there.”“I’m fucking serious. Get the fuck out of there.”“Right over there.” I pointed innocently.“I will shoot you in the ass, the goddamn ass! I will shoot you in the ass, and you’ll be shitting through an inner tube for weeks!”“I’ll be right back,” I said.“In! The! Ass!”I headed for the secret room. "
5 " Brand’s my partner,” I said. “Not just a Companion. He comes with me.”“Plus,” Brand said, “I hear all the cool bodyguards love to shut their clients in a strange room with a strange man. Extra points when zombies are involved. "
6 " I did some research on Little Lord Asshat,” he said. It lacked any real heat, though. I’d overheard him earlier giving money to Queenie to buy Matthias “a razor, a toothbrush, and a fucking clue. "
7 " My lord, just to be clear,” one of the uniformed men said, “the gargoyle entered the premises from over here.”I said, “Entered the premises? It pulled itself off the wall. Right there. In the spot with the monster shaped cut-out. "
8 " Didn’t you know what his father was like—what kind of ability Rune has inherited? Those aren’t just shoes to fill, it’s the whole fucking shoe factory. Don’t you ever doubt whether he can do what he says. "
9 " She paused. “I would also have you understand this: if you discover someone did hurt my son, you are to tell me. While I am sparing in my protection, I am very generous in my reckoning. Such is the nature of Justice.”Behind her, her shadow twisted into something with multiple legs that thinned into sharp points. "
10 " The human world never figured out the phenomenal expense it took to create New Atlantis, or the unlikelihood that it would ever be possible again. To them, it looked as if we pulled our Gotham out of a cereal box. They saw their abandoned buildings turn into craters overnight, and assumed that that was the sort of thing we would always be capable of doing.Not a bad rep to have. "
11 " The thing you must never forget about Atlantean culture is that we don’t coddle our victims. Victims are quarantined and cast out, their defeat viewed as a genetic defect. "
12 " Brand said, “Every year there’s at least one stupid American college that tries to make New Atlantis a spring break destination. The newspapers have a field day when they get eaten. "
13 " I have the healing kit,” he called. “I heard you were attacked. I want to help.” “Then kick yourself in the ass really fucking hard,” Brand said. “I told you to stay put. "
14 " I whispered, “Burn.” The draug’s face began to smoke. Patches of skin peeled away from jawbone and incisors. Its hair clumped and curled into tight, foul nubs. It died into a blur of smoldering darkness. Everyone went quiet. As the light dimmed—my light, the light that was me—it took conscious effort not to sag. “Just curious,” I said in a shaky voice. “Were my eyeballs burning?” “Yes, they were burning,” Addam whispered in awe. “You were burning. "
15 " He said, “Look six ways before crossing the fucking street.”“I will.”“Don’t forget down. You always forget to look down.”“I will,” I said. He was always uneasy when I left the house without him. If I ever got hurt when he wasn’t around, I wouldn’t even be allowed to the bathroom without an escort for the next six months. "
16 " They were copies of tourist info on Brazil, along with local portal schedules. "
17 " We both swore as something lumbered into view. It was huge. And shaggy. It had orange-brown fur and forklift-shaped tusks. It looked like it had chewed through the barbed wire around Jim Henson’s workshop and fled into the wild. "
18 " A bolt of magic—a bolt of visible, brilliant magic—shot into the clouds with strobe-bright intensity. The eye of the storm boiled. It began fraying first into snatches of indeterminate color, and then into vibrant shades of blue. Afternoon sunshine poured down. Shadows ripped wide. "
19 " Brand grabbed the sides of my face. He stared in my eyes and said, firmly, “Rune of Sun House, I believe that you are meant for great things. I truly, truly do. Your story has barely begun. It is my honor to be along for what has been, and is, and will be one hell of a ride. So don’t leave me on the bench again. That’s all I wanted to say. "
20 " I will shoot you in the ass, the goddamn ass! I will shoot you in the ass, and you’ll be shitting through an inner tube for weeks! "
