It is awful. Things would be so much easier for her and her dumber half if they'd been born with two separate destinies, allowed to bind themselves together on their own. Ianthe never needed Coronabeth. Not in the way Coronabeth needed her. And Ianthe never needed Harrowhark either. Not in the way that Harrowhark needed Ianthe but was too damn stubborn to ask for.]
Well. [The admittance comes out like pulling teeth or bone out of human flesh with your bare hands. Something Ianthe's accustomed to. She'll never give Joy - or Woe or whatever her name ended up being - the slightest bit of room over her. But.] I wouldn't say it's been a delight to be the Emperor's sole whipping girl for all the ruins you two - three, kind of four - left him in. But I'm used to being the best and never the favorite.
[She smiles, bitter and sick.]
I'm the only one left. It gets boring.
[It gets lonely. Ianthe's always lonely. No wonder she and her fellow prince got along so well once they were done fighting over scraps of a madwoman's attention.]
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It is awful. Things would be so much easier for her and her dumber half if they'd been born with two separate destinies, allowed to bind themselves together on their own. Ianthe never needed Coronabeth. Not in the way Coronabeth needed her. And Ianthe never needed Harrowhark either. Not in the way that Harrowhark needed Ianthe but was too damn stubborn to ask for.]
Well. [The admittance comes out like pulling teeth or bone out of human flesh with your bare hands. Something Ianthe's accustomed to. She'll never give Joy - or Woe or whatever her name ended up being - the slightest bit of room over her. But.] I wouldn't say it's been a delight to be the Emperor's sole whipping girl for all the ruins you two - three, kind of four - left him in. But I'm used to being the best and never the favorite.
[She smiles, bitter and sick.]
I'm the only one left. It gets boring.
[It gets lonely. Ianthe's always lonely. No wonder she and her fellow prince got along so well once they were done fighting over scraps of a madwoman's attention.]