She felt empty inside.
I am mortally wounded, she thought. I feel now only a shock, a numbness. The pain will come.
The only reason Daoud would tell Simon where to find her had to be that he was dying and wanted Simon to protect her. Daoud truly must be dead.
Simon's anguished look, as if he were begging for something, confirmed it. But to be sure, she had to hear it.
"Has David been killed?"
Simon nodded slowly, his eyes huge with pain. "I was with him when he died. I even know now that he is not David but—Daoud." He hesitated, pronouncing the unfamiliar name.
I was with him when he died.
Daoud!
She wanted to scream, but she hurt so much inside that she could not even scream. She could not make a sound.
Daoud was gone. She had seen him, she had spoken to him, she had loved him for the last time.