Book Boyfriend: Death/Aric

We decided that Thursday needed a little pizazz and stumbled on this meme while hanging out at one of our favorite blogs, A Book and a Cupcake. So we took ourselves over to The Unread Reader to see what it was all about and join the fun. We'd love it if you'd leave a comment if you participate in this so we can check out your book boyfriends as well.

My Book Boyfriend:  Death (aka Aric) from Poison Princess & Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles)

by Kresley Cole


Death's Appearance (As Evie sees him):

"No armor!  He was dressed all in black--button-down, leather pants, and boots.  No helmet covered his blond hair; it was longish, grazing his jawline, creating a perfect frame for his chiseled features.

Naturally he could pull off leather pants and long hair.  He looked like a normal gorgeous young man, who was at home here amidst all this wealth.  Like the heir to a fortune.  Highborn.

And still, my first impulse was to stab him with a table knife."  ~ p. 198 Endless Knight

"Across his chest were black tattoos of weird-looking runes, jagged designs that seemed to scream blade.  With reluctance, I admitted that they didn't detract from his perfection.  His body was still magnificent to look at.

He ran his hand over his wet face, glancing down at me, his eyes burning with emotion.  Death was disgusted with me?  Shocking.  But then I thought I made out something more.  Something...inexplicable."  ~ p. 175-176 Endless Knight

Who Does Death Look Like?

Well...I don't think of him as the model on the book cover for Endless Knight.  But there is ANOTHER cover model who resembles Death's image in my mind...and that would be the hottie on the cover of Julie Kagawa's The Iron Traitor.

Facts About Death:

* Death represents the Death card, one of the 12 Major Arcana cards of the Tarot deck.

* Death is the winning-est Major Arcana of all the games and has won the last three...remaining immortal for centuries.

* In this game, his allies thus far are The Devil (Ogen) and Strength (Lark - aka Mistress of Fauna).

* Death's red-eyed steed is called Thanatos.

* Death's alias is the Reaper.

* His real/given name is Aric and was born in Latvia.

* Death's touch is lethal...except to Evie...which partly explains why he wears gloves/gauntlets a lot.

* He is extremely wealthy from centuries of mercenary action.

* Death IS the Endless Knight.


Quotes From/About Death

(all quotes from Goodreads unless otherwise noted):

“I desired you before, but I never loved you until this life.”~ Death, Endless Knight

~

“Just because you're a gutless harlot doesn't mean I won't find your...attributes attractive. I might be immortal, but I'm still a red-blooded male." ~ Death, Endless Knight

~

"Harlot? Who talks like that? Father Time, meet the Flinstones.”~ Evie (about Death), Endless Knight

~

"My relationship with Jackson had felt fated. Whatever I had with Aric felt . . . endless." ~ Evie (about Death), Endless Knight

~

"I am Death--and you are Life.  You were made for me alone." ~ p. 153 Endless Knight

~

"The idea that someone like him might be lonely made me think of him as, I don't know, more human.  As if he were a normal guy in his early twenties, maybe a former college student just trying to get by.

When he was anything but.  He was the Endless Knight, an immortal killer.  He probably preferred being alone, lacking the need for companionship that I had." ~ p. 227 Endless Knight

~

"Or maybe I was learning that nothing was black and white.

Bad and good were getting blurred in my head.  We were players in a game that would make killers of us all; and the man who'd been my standard of Ultimate Evil...had sourced ballet shoes for me.

Up was down.  Down was up." ~ p. 276 Endless Knight


Why Would Death Be My Book Boyfriend?

Ok...I'm going to refer to Death as Aric in this segment of my post!  So WHY would Aric be my book boyfriend?  A 'boy' who could kill anyone (except Evie) simply by touching them?  For most of the duration of the first two books...I was ardently in the Team Jackson camp.  But somehow, as Aric started to lower his defenses around Evie (and he resisted for the longest time), both Evie and me began to empathize with him and see the man underneath the armor.  He is still the ultimate bad-boy, but he's also incredibly charming.  And he's pretty handy with a sword...of which, I can't resist.

Check out my review for Poison Princess here!

Look for my review of Endless Knight coming soon!