‘You could make it sound more convincing, you know.’ ‘Oh, go to hell,’ I burst out, and suddenly I knew how to fight again, how to survive again – hell, how to want again. ‘Fine! We're not giving up! We … we're going to try and save the city, and if we can't save the city, we're going to kill her, and if we don't manage that either, at least we're going to die bravely and with our weapons in our hands. There. Is that what you wanted to hear?’ His lips curved. ‘And there’s my cactus again.’
