The Seventh Bride

by T. Kingfisher

“It is sometimes easier to be punished for something than it is to be a victim of random cruelty. As long as Ingeth can tell herself that her voice was taken from her because she committed some sin, then she has some control of it, you understand? Otherwise it was simply a terrible thing that happened. And if terrible things are allowed to happen to people that don’t deserve them, then the world is terrible and random and cruel. Which it is,” she added, pointing the spoon in Rhea’s direction, “but there’s not much comfort in that.”

I am not curling into a little ball and screaming. I wish someone else were here to be impressed by how much I am not screaming right now.

“I would follow this hedgehog into the mouth of hell.”