#deathlessedit

"come back with me," insisted koschei. "hide inside me, as you did before. i will pile such jewels on your lap. viy can burn this world, if i have you. already the chernosvyat is his. already my country hoists a silver flag. come with me.

❝𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚, 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒕, 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇, 𝒂 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍. 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉.❞

I am a blank paper on which you and your magic wrote a girl.

‘You will always fall in love, and it will always be like having your throat cut’

i do not tolerate a world emptied of you. i have tried. for a year i have called every black tree marya morevna; i have looked for your face in the patterns of the ice. in the dark, i have pored over the loss of you like pale gold.

That's how you get deathless, volchitsa. Walk the same tale over and over, until you wear a groove in the world, until even if you vanished, the tale would keep turning, keep playing, like a phonograph, and you'd have to get up again, even with a bullet through your eye, to play your part and say your lines.

Who is to rule? And that is never answered with words.

if i had never been sick with magic?