Cinderella Is Dead

by Kalynn Bayron

I don’t want to be saved by some knight in shining armor. I’d like to be the one in the armor, and I’d like to be the one doing the saving.

“That’s how things happen sometimes,” Constance says thoughtfully. “Something small. A choice we make because, in the moment, we needed to make it. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less important. I believe that things happen for a reason, Sophia. If you hadn’t left the ball when you did, we never would have met.”

“The palace underestimates the resourcefulness of women forced into a dark and dangerous place.”

“I think we sometimes make the mistake of thinking monsters are abhorrent aberrations, lurking in the darkest recesses, when the truth is far more disturbing. The most monstrous of men are those who sit in plain sight, daring you to challenge them. He’s calculating and manipulative, and believe me when I say he will not stop until he finds you.”

Do not be silent. Raise your voice. Be a light in the dark.