Alice

“I am beginning to suspect,' he said, in barely a whisper, 'that you are not afraid enough of me.”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress

“Was I so wrong to treasure humans? she wondered. Will they always leave me alone in the dark?
She swore to never care for humans again, to never lend them her heart, never try to save them from themselves. But still, she tasted their tears like the salt of the sea, felt the ache of their pain deep in her bones, cried for them as she wished someone would cry for her, even once. She did not know if she would ever find the love that humans held for only each other, but she would continue searching until the end of time.”
― Kylie Lee Baker, Japanese Gothic

“From one branch, two azaleas blooming,
Fighting for a piece of the dawn.
The roots lie rotten, the leaves die weeping;
Come night, all the flowers are gone.”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress

“This whole time in the palace, I may have been occupied with my own survival, but that did not mean I didn’t think of them often. I missed home with a terrible, constant ache—an ache that was not noticed when there were more pressing pains, but when everything was calm again, on a day like this one, it was there waiting for me.”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress