In Mercy, Rain (Wayward Children, #7.5)

by Seanan McGuire

Weakness is always easier to perceive from the outside, and every good predator knows how to pick out the most vulnerable members of a herd.

Jack might not notice looking at anyone differently than anyone else, but that was at least in part because she seemed to be one of those lucky few who found beauty everywhere she looked.

Her kindness was as intrinsic to her as her loveliness, if not more so, for beauty can be spoilt, can change with the times, but kindness is eternal.

“The balance,” she said. “A vampire hunts us in the night, and our survival hinges on the patience and charity of a man everyone refers to as ‘mad.’ If there was ever balance in these Moors, it died long before either of us was born.”

she was happy, because she was finally allowed to decide who she was and what that meant.

The idea that some parents couldn’t love their own children was too foreign to her, too impossible and unwanted, and so she pushed it away, refusing to consider it further.

“The Moors spin on stories, and this is a classic one: the formerly dead maiden and the mad scientist’s beautiful daughter.”

“Who told you that there’s only room for one person inside a story?” Alexis demanded. “That isn’t true. That’s never been true. You don’t have to take things away from others if you want to have them for yourself! You have a heart, don’t you?”

If we can all exist, and have hearts, why can’t two people share the shape of the same story? Why does your sister being beautiful mean that you’re not allowed to be? That doesn’t make any sense.”

you’re alive, which is an improvement on my most recent courtship.”

There was still rain. There was still laughter. Sometimes, that can be enough.