Be the Serpent (October Daye) by Seanan McGuire

Author:Seanan McGuire [McGuire, Seanan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2022-08-29T18:30:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

The confusion only lasted a few more seconds. Then it faded, replaced by a sour expression I had never seen on Stacy’s face. The edges of her irises were crystallizing again, and that helped, at least a little; it was easier to look at her when her eyes were shifting into those of a stranger, and not feel like I was attacking someone who had only ever been good and kind to me.

“You couldn’t let it rest, could you?” she asked. “You couldn’t walk away. I tried to let you walk away. I tried to open a safe passage between you and not doing what you just did, but oh, no, you have to be the hero. You have to be the one who solves the problems. You have to force the people around you to look at the ugly things that they don’t want to see—the things they shouldn’t have to see, because they’re not heroes. Do you know why Faerie has heroes, October?”

“I don’t,” I admitted, staying exactly where I was. Standing up would have been an escalation. Tybalt was rigid beside me, barely seeming to breathe.

“Faerie has heroes so the rest of us won’t have to see how ugly the world really is. You’re supposed to be a shield, not a spyglass.”

“And you’re supposed to be a queen, not a parasite,” I snapped. “Get out of my friend.”

She raised an eyebrow, looking at me. Her expression wasn’t Stacy’s at all, even though the lines and shape of her face still were. “I’m sorry, what did you just say to me? Have you misunderstood the situation as dramatically as all of that? Heroes do the impossible, but they don’t always get what they want, and you’re asking for something that can never happen. Your ‘friend’ isn’t a body I’ve invaded or taken over somehow. She’s mine. She’s me. She’s made of me, and she never existed at all, and nothing you do is going to make her anything more than a shell I wore for when I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I liked being her. You were a part of that, sometimes. More often, you were a burden, one more thing I didn’t want to carry but felt like I had to, because she would have done it. Because you helped to shape her into someone who was too soft to stand up to the world the way she should have. She was built to be weak. All the shells I’ve been allowed to wear were. But all you’re doing right now is putting the rest of your precious Kingdom at risk. I hope you understand that.”

“I don’t,” I said. “I don’t see how coming here to stop you from doing whatever horrible thing you think would be a good way to announce your return is putting anyone in danger.”

“Ah, but you see, my bastard husband says I’m not back to stay, not yet.” She smiled, expression sharp as a shard of glass. The crystallization

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