ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ𝓯 “But I’m not guilty, there’s been a mistake. How is it even possible for someone to be guilty? We’re all human beings here, one like the other.” — said Kalliopē. The priest promptly answered: “that is true but that is how the guilty speak.” ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ𝓯 “Her soul was possessed by the fact that a fuller life was opening before her: she was a neophyte about to enter on a higher grade of initiation. She was going to have room for the energies which stirred uneasily under the dimness and pressure of her own mind.” ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ𝓯 “She did look like a deity – the perfect balance of danger and charm, she was at the same time fascinating and inaccessible, distant because of her flawlessness, and possessing such strength of character that she was utterly attractive in a forbidden way.” ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ𝓯 "Seeing a dead body is a comforting reassurance that we may live as men but we die as animals. Personally I find that a relief. I can't imagine any greater horror than eternal life." — he said, before stabbing Kalliopē’s heart. ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ𝓯 “Oh, tonight I gave you my soul and I am dead!” — Kalliopē replied. “Your soul is a beautiful thing, child,” — replied the grave man's voice — “and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.” ㅤㅤ

“His tongue scraped the roof of my mouth as he dragged a finger down the center of me, and I gasped, my back arching. “Kalliopē,” he said against my lips, my name like a prayer more devout than any Ianthe had offered up to the Cauldron on that dark solstice morning.”