Late Eclipses (October Daye, #4)

by Seanan McGuire

These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend No good to us: though the wisdom of nature can Reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself Scourged by the sequent effects: love cools, Friendship falls off, brothers divide: in Cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in Palaces, treason; and the bond cracked ’twixt son And father . . . —William Shakespeare, King Lear

“Watching the two of you is fun, in a sick, sad, voyeuristic sort of way.”

“Oh, right. I guess that’s a fair exchange.” “Why else would they call us the Fair Folk?” “Because we steal their kids and cows if they call us fairies?”

“I’ll live forever,” she said, hand slipping from mine. “In the rise of rivers in spring, in winter’s snows, in rain running down autumn’s forests. It’s not the immortality of men, but it’s immortality.

Crying isn’t weak. It’s good sense. It means you know it’s all right to mourn the dead and let them go.”

Herding the fae really is a lot like herding cats, only pointier and less rewarding.

“Faerie and her traditions, fucking up my life since time immemorial.”