"Because there's nothing to decide." She looked at Janet directly. Her eyes were clear and dry and very tired in a way that had nothing to do with sleep.
"I spent a long time being good and patient and open, and it gutted me, Janet. I was a kind person, and it was used, and I am done, I am long overdue to stop letting that be the price of being who I am." She paused.
"I have done the work. I have made my peace with most of it. And I am not going to let one revelation undo that." Another pause, smaller. "I can't."
Janet was quiet. "Seren came to see me yesterday," Amara said. Janet blinked. "I know. Adelaide told me this morning."
"She… " Amara stopped. She looked at the middle distance for a moment, and the careful composure on her face did something complicated and then resolved back into composure, but altered. Like light through water.
