helped Hernandez end his own suffering. And he had seen his shadow there, mocking, berating, and blaming him for everything that had gone wrong.
“Just get it over with.” Simon sighed. He hated this dream already. He hurt everywhere. He had thrown up a few times—which was at least some revenge on anything that lived deep down in that endless pit. But his stomach was empty now, and he had nothing else to gift it.
“It took her.”
That wasn’t how he remembered the conversations going. He picked up his head to try to look at the version of himself on the stairs right-side up. “What?”
His other self was pouting. “It took her. We were having such a nice time. I think I was going to convince her to marry me. But then it came. And it took her away. I don’t get any time with her! And now I have to share her dreams with the Faire? This is your fault.”
“I—” He paused as he realized what was happening. It was terribly hard to think with all the blood rushing to his head. “Ugh. I think I’m going to be sick. Can you please go away? I’d rather vomit alone in peace.”
“The Faire took her!”
Simon sighed and dropped his head back down. “I do apologize for the inconvenience, but I’m not sure how you think this is possibly my fault. Wait. Did you say you were going to try to marry her?” He barked out a laugh. “You’re crazier than I am.”
“I love her. And she loves me. And that’s all that matters!”
“She does not love you.” He scoffed. “Don’t be a fool.”
“She does. You know she does. You’ve seen it. She loves us.”
“Bad news for her, I suppose.” Simon didn’t know which was worse. Hanging from his ankles or having to talk to the part of his mind that he happily tore out and threw away.
“We need to save her.”
“From what? The Faire, or us? I’m afraid I’m unable to do the first, and not willing to do the second. I doubt you want me to abandon her.” He wished the blood weren’t rushing to his head. It hurt. “Also, while we’re on the subject, can you please, please, leave me the hell alone? At least while I’m mid-coitus with Cora, could you kindly shut up? Nothing is more distracting from the matter at hand than having you tossing suggestions over my shoulder!”
His other self frowned. “I was trying to be helpful.”
“You are absolutely everything but that. And if I wanted to take advice from someone who probably ruts with all the refinement of a wild boar, I’ll go talk to Rudy.” He had begun to spin around, and he was now lecturing the opposite wall.
Insult to injury.
“Why do you have to be so mean?”
“You know why. Don’t ask stupid questions.”
“We have to work together to save Cora.”
“You’re nothing but an annoyance. Nothing. What exactly do you think you can contribute to this, shadow of mine? Hm? No. I want nothing to do with you.”
“Then if you won’t agree to work together, I’ll find a way to take control. You can’t keep me out forever. You want to love her.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Will you look at me when we’re speaking?”
“I’m trying!” He snarled. He squirmed on the rope until he turned around. “No. I will not let you back in. I will not descend into madness again. I will not become some drooling lunatic.”
“You don’t know that’s what will happen.”
“But it might.” He pointed at his shadow-turned-flesh. “And ‘might’ is dangerous enough. She is a temporary dalliance.”
“It’s more than that.”
“You will not tell me how I feel. I will not listen to such nonsense coming from a deranged and half-assed shadow puppet. Do you know what I do love, however?” He had spun around the wrong way again. He didn’t care. “I love being this way. I am what I want to be. I am what I should be. You are only ever in the way.”
“I am not.”
“She told me that she was here for me—the Puppeteer. Not you. She doesn’t love you, the man I was. She loves me.”
“Shut up.”
“You came here to blather at me, and now you want me to be quiet? That’s rich. And besides, she doesn’t love me. She might think she does, but it’s just infatuation. It’s the obsession of freedom and the enjoyment of physical affection after a long drought. She’ll tire of us, of our cruelty, and go bunk with another.”
“No!”
“Who would