““It would be useless to tell him that I'm done sacrificing other people for my own gain. I won't whip innocent kitchen workers, I won't burn down buildings, I won't ask anyone to give up their inheritance for me, and I certainly won't leave a friend at the mercy of a mysterious magical force-- merely for the sake of my own power. I press my fingers to the stone at my navel, taking comfort in its familiar pulsing. What I tell him is, 'And I have me. I will be enough.””
