Fearless

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and cursing.

“Tears prick my eyes, and I blink, forcing them back. I shake my head slightly in defiance to the growing weakness within me and bite the quivering lip that portrays it. My gaze scans the room, body shuddering in pain as I search for him. I’m frantic, eyes fumbling over unfamiliar faces. Damn the pretending. Damn the hiding. Damn everything but him and us and this moment where I need him.”

Paedyn Gray’s internal monologue in this court scene provides insight into her character’s restless state of mind and evokes her vulnerability. Her eyes are welling up, and she is shaking her “head slightly in defiance” as she bites her “quivering lip.” Her nervous body language is a manifestation of her anxiety and fear. The latter three lines use anaphora to enact the “franticness” that Paedyn feels. She feels weak and alone and thus looks for Kai Azer in the crowd, which captures how, throughout the novel, she is Gaining Strength From the Power of Love.

“A laugh threatens to slip past my numb lips. It’s not as though she hadn’t promised to be my ruin, hadn’t already become my demise. She is the single most destructive thing I have ever desired, and yet, it is the diamond on her finger that will destroy me.”

Kai uses figurative language to capture his intense feelings for Paedyn. Diction including “demise,” “destructive,” and “destroy” affect a violent, tempestuous mood. Kai experiences internal turmoil when he sees the engagement ring that Kitt Azer recently put on Paedyn’s finger, and this internal monologue captures his attempt to reconcile with this new, painful reality.