In the Cities of Coin and Spice (The Orphan's Tales, #2)

by Catherynne M. Valente

The dark took them; the dark will take us. No more needs to be said.

“Because you know a corpse does not mean you knew the man.”

we will be happy. There are many ways of being happy. We will find ours.”

but her hair was messy, her eyes always tired.

her. On the hunt he called me holy; in the dance I knew I was divine. If it seems silly now, at least I have the consolation that many others had gone before me in madness for love of her, for love of the snake and the sky. I cannot explain it better. I danced her so often that I felt her in me, I felt her far off in the dark, coiling around herself in the fog. What damage does the telling of a story play upon its teller? I told her story hundreds of times. I could not bear to remain outside of it. The