The next day, she tried an experiment. At work, a colleague misquoted a Shakespeare line. Cytherea’s mouth opened, but she closed it. Instead, she said, "That's an interesting take. It reminds me of a different version I read—want to hear it?"
That night, Cytherea didn't sleep. She re-read her marginalia—not the plot notes, but the emotional ones. She saw a pattern: "Wrong." "Actually." "No."
The colleague beamed. "Sure!"
"I hate this," she declared. "The author makes knowledge feel like a weapon. Every character uses a fact to wound someone else."
Priya sent a single goddess emoji: 🕊️