en K

eavy thud of insulated steel

at was what

de

gi

ng to find Luca properly settled.

t-but his body was rigid, his small hands gripping the leat

spira

It's over. We'

mand boardrooms and close billi

n, his eyes fixed on the window, searching fo

lm against the gl

it.

gers. I glanced at the rearview mirror, ready to order the driver to

she

Ander

ground, her body curled

tion etched in the line of her shoulders. The gi

y noise I had never, in two years of absolute silence, heard come from his mouth

hit me like a

think. The cold night air invaded the hea

run-a Knight never ran-but my

rs, her face smudged with what could have been soot or simple exhaustion.

d. My voice came out clipped-a

ed, clutching he

spital, and your despair won't save he

arring with need, until she looked

g for a brief moment the fragili

ade of little more than

pital was a silent,

beside her and gripping the hem of her blouse as if h

the rearview mirro

son react to her as if she were

gency entrance, the response was immed

ital's insignia. She stopped in the middle of the lobby, her face burning

The wounded dignity in her voice unsettled

"We're not here to discuss your finances. We're he

ess laugh. "To you, they're details.

answer. I

a gurney and wheeled

her, refused to let go. He planted his feet on th

" I said, reac

when it h

uttural sound. A dragged-out, imperfe

stopped spinning.

level, oblivious to

lie. She's sick, remember? Stay with y

ehead, and miracul

till, watching her disap

son, take him to the best specialists in th

e, pointing stubbornly in t

e need t

wn on the hospital floor. He

later, the nu

ever has come down a bit, but we're wai

eet and pulled my

om, the scene was one

bed. Emma was slumped in a chair beside her, hands covering her face, her sho

her, climbing onto the chair to wr

ying to assemble a mask of stren

fixed on the floor. "I'll pay back every cent, I

e girl, then at Emma. Something about the equati

er now, but it still carried an inquisitor's edge. "And why a

hich had been stroking

thick with ghosts I hadn't met but could alread