"I clench his hands to the point of pain. "Stay with me."His pupils contract to pinpoints, dialate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy. "Always,"he murmurs."
"Sometimes when I'm alone, I take the pearl from where it lives in my pocket and try to remember the boy with the bread, the strong arms that warded off nightmares on the train, the kisses in the arena."
"Some walks you have to take alone."
"But I don't know what to him about the aftermath of killing a person. About how they never leave you."
"Stay with me.Always."
"What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again."