USELESS MAGIC

The Reluctant Victor, inspired by The Reluctant Bride by Auguste Toulmouche - I just thought that this painting was SO perfect for Katniss and I had to draw it!

Why does anyone do anything? Belief. A belief that they are right and just in their actions. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, because he believed that God had commanded it. To kill your son is unthinkable. A crime. But if you are acting in the belief that your God, your supreme deity whom you must obey, has demanded it of you, is it still a crime?

There Tsar Koschei, he wastes away, poring over his pale gold.

MORS IRRUMAT OMNIA

Alina Starkov was our age when she was martyred. She was just a girl, and she sacrificed herself to save Ravka and destroy the Shadow Fold. There are people in your country who worship her as a Saint too.

↳ Alina x The Darkling

There are some things that can’t be changed with words. Some things have to be seen. They have to be felt.

for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return

want one?

it is sad, of course, to forget. but it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten.

Never pray to the gods that answer after the dark.

And she is tired. Unspeakably tired. But there is no question she has lived.

Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because visions weakens, and voices wither, and talent fades…. Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end… everyone wants to be remembered.

Victor was the guilty one. The Victor that he knew as dead, replaced by something cold and vicious. A twisted, violent version of himself. Victor had never been good, or sweet — he always had a sharp edge; Eli had been drawn to the metallic glint of it — but he’d never been this. A murderer. A monster.

I have worn nothing but blood and death for years. I have fought all your battles for you, just as you asked me. I have learned all the tricks you said I must learn. I have learned not to cry when I strangle a man. I have learned to lay my finger aside my nose and disappear. I have learned to watch everything die. I am not a little girl anymore, dazzled by your magic. It is my magic now, too.  — Deathless, Cathyrenne M. Valente