"I'm sorry. He looked straight at the nothing. But something stirred inside him. "I care for you very much."
She studied him in the half-light.
"Are those your own words?"
"No. I think Lawrence said them." Nothing. "You see what a waste I am."
"No. I don't think so. But I wish you would kiss me."
He rolled back toward her, felt her long and beautiful beside him. He began to kiss her, felt something warm at the corner of his eye.
"Why do you have to go? Haven't you done enough already?"
"Apparently not."
"Oh, of course. The Belgians and Swiss, and now the Commonwealth.
That was your fault, too."
"You don't understand, Elonna."