the most agonising thing about holland saying 'once you let the magic in, you've already lost' to kell is the parallel to his receipt of the soul seal, and how he felt the magic running through his veins before he could block it out. he knew first hand how dark magic can damn you once it gets into your blood, antari or not, and it was as much a tired warning and reminder of his own pain as it was a jab at kell's weakness. between that and astrid's desire to keep kell, holland spent the entirety of book one a little too close to seeing kell relive his own trauma, and was consequently doing the few things he could to prevent it

he may not have liked kell, but he refused to let magic ruin kell's life the way it had his. to the point of letting kell kill him.

Dropping the very highly and frequently requested scene for my latest Sketch-a-Wish, voted on by my lovely Patreon members for November! Featuring Lila and Kell from A Darker Shade of Magic by @veschwab ! This was probably the funniest scene in the book and I've been wanting to illustrate it for the longest time. It was actually the runner-up scene for the @Illumicrate ADSOM mug, way back when!

2023 books a darker shade of magic by v.e. schwab (reread)

Magic was a living thing---that, everyone knew---but to Kell it felt like more, like a friend, like family. It was, after all, a part of him (much more than it was a part of most) and he couldn't help feeling like it knew what he was saying, what he was feeling, not only when he summoned it, but always, in every heartbeat and every breath. He was, after all, Antari.

Historically accurate Kell and Lila! ✨

gf who loves knives & daggers and bf who loves her blade against his throat >>>

“For the ones who dream of stranger worlds.” - A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab ✨

Kell and Lila, to Holland, at any given moment:

disaster trio disaster trio disaster trio

I wonder if VE Schwab knows that Kell’s outfit when he’s Kay in my mind is literally just Westley from The Princess Bride. I wonder if she knows how much it plagues me.

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Linus Baker- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Gideon Nav- The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

Rhy Maresh- Shades of Magic series by VE Schwab

Damianos (Damen)- Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

she bent most of the rules. she broke the rest.

the white streak >>>

"sexy gentleman" damn straight!! look at my boy!!!

meet my son who has committed fifty atrocities and has every disorder known to man (i still love him)

Did a redraw of this oldie.

I forgot how much I missed them until I read The Fragile Threads of Power.

Kell Maresh is an absolute disaster of a man and I love him

i finished the fragile threads of power and i don't think i'm gonna be able to think about anything else for the next 3-5 business years

(commission info // kofi support!)

Fuck all romances except whatever that guy with the peculiar coat and that girl who could find whichever side of it she wanted had going on <3