“
I’ve wept before, and probably even enough, but it…I feel raw. I’m not sure if I’m more her or more me.”
Pain’s knees began to give way for sheer exhaustion, and she sank down into the chair that Charm had vacated. “You are you,” she assured Charm.
“But I’m not,” said Charm, her voice veering back toward hysteria. “I’m not one me. I’m two? Four? Six? How many? Who am I? I’m not who I was and I don’t know who I am or who is me.”
Pride snatched Charm’s arm. She spun Charm around and gave her a swift shake, her bloodily bandaged hand clutching Charm’s arms. “You are the mother of Evlaina. You’re Charm, enthraller of princes and emperors, feared by bestial men who abuse you in order to expiate their own weakness.” Pride’s teeth bared in a fierce hiss—“You were clever enough to grow into someone who could take her shocks in pieces that could be dealt with instead of dying of them. You were strong enough not to die when anyone else would have. You are Charm.” She shook Charm again, viciously, heedless of her own injuries. “Stand up and act like it!
”
”
Sara A. Mueller (The Bone Orchard)