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187 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 21, 2023
“It appears,” a deep voice said, “a little mouse has made its way into my home.”
❝
“You came here to ask for my blood,” he said.
Alright, fine. I could see the irony.
❝
I realized that it was the stare of a scientist, someone used to analyzing things and taking them apart. A little spark of relief came with this realization. Because that, at least, was something I understood. Maybe Vale and I were worlds apart in every way—human and vampire, lord and peasant, near-immortal and pitifully ephemeral—but if we had that, it was already more than I had in common with most of the people I’d grown up with.
❝
“You’re an especially nosy mouse today.”
“May I write to you?” he asked.
“I can’t imagine that ever being true,” he murmured. “Because I want only you, Lilith. Whatever of you I can have. I’ll take one night. One hour. One minute. Whatever you want to give me. I’ll have it.”
“It must be hard,” he murmured. “To bear the weight of so much affection in a life so short.”
“Whatever you need,” he said. “My blood. My books. My knowledge. Anything. It is yours.”
“It appears,” a deep voice said, “a little mouse has made its way into my home."
"Well, Vale, you already had one houseguest this —”
“Not like that,” he huffed. “The houseguest is gone. I offer you your own bed. Though if you wanted to share mine instead, I wouldn’t object to that, either.”
“There would be consequences.”
“Consequences,” I scoffed.
“What? I’m a dangerous man. You aren’t afraid of what punishment might be?"
"He pushed himself up enough to look at me, and my impulse was to turn my head, to look away. But he grabbed my chin, held it—held it, so that he was looking right into my eyes."
"May I write to you?” he asked.
My mouth closed. I blinked at him.
“May I write?” He sounded vaguely irritated, and I wasn’t sure why. “Yes,” I said, at last.
"I always wondered what you were thinking, When you look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m a formula to be solved, and you’re very intrigued about the answer."
“It appears,” a deep voice said, “a little mouse has made its way into my home.”
“Not all of us have the resources to travel,” I said.
“Humans and your money.”
“I didn’t say money. I said resources.”
He glanced at me in confusion. I gave him a grim smile. “Time, Vale,” I said. “Time is the most valuable resource of all, and some of us are perpetually short.”
Tears pricked my eyes.
“You want more than I can give you,” I whispered.
“I can’t imagine that ever being true,” he murmured. “Because I want only you, Lilith. Whatever of you I can have. I’ll take one night. One hour. One minute. Whatever you want to give me. I’ll have it.”
“You want more than I can give you,” I whispered.
“I can’t imagine that ever being true,” he murmured. “Because I want only you, Lilith. Whatever of you I can have. I’ll take one night. One hour. One minute. Whatever you want to give me. I’ll have it.”
omg when I tell you I loved this novellas sm!! And it’s kinda absurd since the first book was meeh, I mean, I liked it but not loved it, you know? But this one!!!! It was so cute istg.
About the plot:
Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. Death has always been in her life but now the lives of her loved ones are in danger, and she needs to find a cure to an illness that’s threatening her town. She strikes a bargain with a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of his blood, in hope it’ll be helpful to find the cure and save the town. When the bargain gradually becomes something more, Lilith realizes is dangerous to love the only thing gods hate even more than her village…
My thoughts:
Aaaaaaaaaa I loved this novella sm and tbh, it didn’t feel like one bc it was well written. I liked Lilith but I loved Vale. He was so charming and charismatics and I had genuine interest in him. I wouldn’t say I didn’t give two fucks about Lilith but…
The story itself was really good and intriguing, the writing is good and the pace is kinda fast, besides the beginning which is quite slow. I think the first 30/40 pages were slow but then the book picks up and you can enjoy it more.
𝓥𝖆𝖑𝖊
He’s the mmc and a vampire. At first, he seems a bit rude but it’s just a mask he wears with Lilith. He has these mysterious vibes which make him so damn charming. He was also unintentionally funny sometimes.
I feel like he overshadowed Lilith a bit, at least for me bc I wanted to know more about him than Lil. I wish this novella were a full novel bc it deserves it. I wish I could read more about Vale, his backstory and his future with Lilith. He also gave her a nickname—Mouse. I mean… am I the only one who love when the mmc gives the fmc a cute nickname?
“Whatever you need," he said. "My blood. My books. My knowledge. Anything. It is yours.”
“He was now looking at me as he had looked at that rose—pulling me apart, petal by petal.”
𝕽𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊
Their romance was everything and more. They really cared for each other and the chemistry was WOW!!!
As I said before—and I might be a little bit repetitive— I wish I could read more about them. They really deserve more bc their love story was so so good and I hope there’s more of it in the second book.
“Stay, stay, stay.”
“For the first time, I saw beauty in all the things I did not understand. And I knew that Vale saw beauty in all those things within me, too.”
Quotes:
“May I write to you?” he asked.”
“I want to stay,” I choked out. “I know,” he whispered, as his mouth lowered to mine, and I faded away there in his arms, surrounded by withering roses.”
“I’d thought I’d die with her thinking I did not love her. I did die, and that fear died with me. Because here, in this moment, with me on the right side of death and her on the right side of living, lost in a tearful embrace hello instead of goodbye, we met each other on level ground.”
“Unnatural life. Rightful death. And Vale and I, between both, beholden to neither, and everything we were ever meant to be.”
“He cradled my face like a lover, one hand on each cheek—one touch of death, one of life.”
“No one had ever seen that before. The love in my cold absence. And it was always so easy to just let them believe I didn’t feel it.”
“I had never been able to give any of them enough—enough time, enough love. Everyone gave up so much trying to get more from me, and now I did the same for them. From the moment I was old enough to understand my eventual fate, I made every decision knowing this. Knowing that I couldn’t be enough. Knowing that I would wither too fast, like a flower in an early frost.”
“And when the days passed, and my exhaustion and my enthusiasm led me to loosen my typically-closely-held control over my socially unacceptable attitudes, my raw enthusiasm leaking through as I talked excitedly to Vale about some theory or another, I turned to see him staring at me, brows drawn. His expression made me freeze, my face flushing—because I’d let down a wall I shouldn’t have and wasn’t sure what I might have revealed beyond it. “I—” I started. But he just said, calmly, “You are a very beautiful woman.”
“My blood. My books. My knowledge. Anything. It is yours.”