l awake in the halls of the dead.
On awakening for the second time, I think:
I’m afraid to let myself hope.
“She’s odd,” Rose observes. “Very formal.”
“Things are better on Lachion?”
March always said he knew killing.
That seems like a sad epitaph.
I ache. “Where did you find a jumper?”
Fantastic.
I wonder where all the Farwan jumpers wound up.
A hole has opened up inside me.
Mary, I can’t
live
without him. I don’t even want to try.
“I wondered how soon you’d find me,” he says quietly.
If only I could see his eyes . . .
My voice comes out raw. “Rose was careful not to mention you. I thought—”
“How did it go on Lachion?” I manage to ask.
Pointless small talk. I already got the gist from Rose.
Where, he told me, he slew thousands.
But I don’t quit. Maybe I’m not Mair, but I’ll figure this out. I won’t lose him.
“You have no idea how much I don’t deserve you.” He pitches the comment low, almost dispassionate.
After a moment of silent resistance, his icy soul fills mine.
Instead of walking away, I sit with him quietly in the dark.