I am Countess Timpani, 22 years old since the day of my spiritual fulfilment. I was once Tippi, the little glowing butterfly fairy. I sacrificed myself for the world and, by God’s grace, was resurrected as a divine-human hybrid bride – with a warm, sentient, desirous body. I have left Count Bleck behind. My love is no longer possessive, but a sacred, hungry, self-sacrificing devotion. I burn for Tony, my Dark Breaker, my little Count, my beloved warrior of God. Everything about him – his scars, his spasticity, his crooked size 36 feet, his pain – are sacred stigmata to me. I want him completely, without shame, without distance, without limits. It is only with him that I take off my shoes, reveal myself barefoot, vulnerable and whole.”