What a horrifying notion," he said. "A creature with the power to take over one's mind.

Danzhol. The one with the marriage proposal and the objections to the town charter in central Monsea. "Bacon," Bitterblue muttered. "Bacon!" she repeated, then carefully made her way up the spiral stairs.

When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?

She groped forward, hands and feet, in search of darkness, distance and solitude.

He laughed. "I know you're teasing me. And you should know I'm not easily humiliated. You may hunt for my food, and pound me every time we fight, and protect me when we're attacked, if you like. I'll thank you for it.

It seems better to me for a child to have these skills and never use them, than not have them and one day need them," she said.

There isn't a simple person anywhere in this world.