Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2020 edition

by Charlie Jane Anders

Alyssa had grown up with romances, all about princes, duels, secret meetings, courtships, first kisses, and last trysts. She’d have said that real life could never be half as romantic as all those doomed lovers and secret vows … except now, those stories seemed cheap and flimsy, compared to the love she’d found, here in this tiny room.