The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3

by Beth Brower

Unspoken Right? Power to Remove? You’re sounding rather American. THEY HAVE THEIR USES. Americans? RIGHTS

“We cannot always predict the outcomes of our actions, Miss Lion, however well intended.” I stood. “What else is life but a string of outcomes beyond our control?”

And I hadn’t realised until that moment how much I’ve missed that feeling, of someone inside your four walls watching out for you. The feeling that home isn’t just a place, but also people. I’ve forgotten it could be.

I learned a long time ago that my happiness has to be separate from the things beyond my control.”

“Gloomy days stand in their place, but there is too much,”—I waved a hand about—“too much of everything else, I suppose, to live under them.”

I wasn’t all right. I was horrified. I was angry. I told him so in as many words. As he nodded, a strange light came into his eyes. “Good,” he answered sharply. “Be angry. Be terribly, bloody angry. Better fury than sorrow.” I blinked at him. In all the years of loss, no one had ever told me that was acceptable.

I enjoy a man who can unironically speak of fearing women.