Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
In the 23rd century, after a great nuclear war instigated by Tharizdun, the embodiment of natural order, Man, the defier of natural order and the Melkor of history, tries to recreate a One-State society led by the resurrected Julius Caesar. But all the same ... as the European populance reacts to the Roman destruction of democracy and divided cultures, they become desperate, and try to free themselves of Man's natural faults which the Roman society is based on ... by following the demonic legions of Tharizdun, but perhaps, just perhaps, one's demon is an angel in another man's nation.
If only it weren't for politics coming out of the barrel of a gun.
~"You don't- you don't need me."
I stared in shock. This was the first shred of emotion he'd shown since he started avoiding me, and I had no idea how to respond. What was I supposed to say to something like that? So I let myself be honest, and I told him exactly how I felt. "But I do." I almost choked on my words. "I do need you. I can't talk to anybody else. I can't eat. I can't sleep. And I know you know what that's like."~
Liliana is now an orphan. Just 17 years old, she lost her parents in a boating accident and now she must live with her best friend, her best friend's parents and her best friend's brother, Joseph. She struggles through her grief as well as dealing with the mysterious but obnoxious Joseph, and it soon comes to light that he isn't the only one around her keeping secrets. Living under the same roof, tensions arise, and Liliana begins to discover that a perfect family may not be so perfect after all."
If you like a good old slowburn, enemies (ish) to lovers, bonding over tragic backstories type beat then this story is for you, I promise :)
#1 in #bestfriendsbrother (didn't note the exact date - some time in January 2021)
#1 in #dealing with death (11/04/21)
amazing cover by @sixty6ix !!