“What sort of illusions?” A long pause. “It doesn’t matter now.” Too soon to push—if ever. Then she asked softly, “How long?” It took the entirety of his three centuries of training to keep the devastation, the agony for her, from his face. “Two months, three days, and seven hours.” Her mouth tightened, either at the length of time, or the fact that he’d counted every single one of those hours apart.

