A Duet with the Siren Duke

If someone loves you, truly loves you, it’s because they want to—because they can’t imagine a world in which they don’t. Because you make their soul sing just with your mere existence.

You don’t have to repay someone for their love. It’s given freely.

Who we are is independent of the trauma that tries to mar our souls. It is a part of us, it might teach us, but it does not define us.

If the cost of my happiness is the world’s judgment, then it is a price I’ll pay.

The sea will devour me, if given the chance. If not the waves and currents, or sharp-toothed animals, then the ghosts and monsters that haunt its depths.

Never compromise your worth, not for anyone, not even for family.

Because, sometimes, despite our best efforts…we hurt those we love.

How many times in my life will I just ignore everything that I once had—once was—to become someone new? Is there any part of me that’s actually…me? Or am I nothing more than a shape-shifter, becoming whatever I need to be to survive?

I know what it’s like to feel like you’re a burden to all those around you. That, no matter how hard you try, it’s never good enough. You can’t love them enough, sacrifice enough for them…

History is just that, Victoria, history. The only bearing it has on the present is what it taught you and what you choose to carry forward. I wouldn’t change the woman you are now for the whole of the seas.

He beholds me in the manner one would a god, as if the world starts and ends with me, here in this singular moment.

Not because of it, in spite of it. Who we are is independent of the trauma that tries to mar our souls. It is a part of us, it might teach us, but it does not define us.

I’ve managed to convince myself that as long as I’m working, striving, helping and giving, then I can compensate for my flaws and be worthy of the love of those around me.