It's my birthday today. I'm not 17 anymore. The 17 Janis Ian sang about where one learns the truth. But what she failed to mention is that you keep on learning truths after 17 and I want to keep on learning truths till the day I die.

How seven days had passed since she had disappeared from existence. That it would take the eyes of the gods to find her. Or the heart of the Lumateran exile.

And then their voices stopped and their souls stood still and they ceased being who they had been. Because who they were had always been determined by him.

Silence is not just about secrecy, Your Majesty. It is grief and it is shame.

Oh God, Frankie, I breathe in rhythm with that man. You think that's not my flesh and blood after all these years?

I shrug. "I'll probably mention that I'm in love with you." He chuckles. "Only you would say that in such a I-think-I'll-wash-my-hair-tonight tone.

Because being so dependent on people scares me.