"Has anyone ever said that to me before?"
She asked it quietly. To the empty room. To herself.
She was quiet for a long moment.
"No," she whispered.
Just that, one word. Dropped into the silence like a stone into still water.
"No. In hundreds of years... no one." She laughed softly. A strange and slightly hollow sound mixed together with something almost like wonder. "Kingdoms. Centuries. So many faces I cannot even remember them anymore. And not one."
She looked at her own hands.
"Everyone who saw me... they ran." Her voice stayed soft. Unhurried. Like she was recounting a story she had long since stopped feeling. "Or they screamed. Or they begged. Or they broke." She curled her fingers slowly. "They called me monster. Every single one."
She tilted her head.
