Are you listening, Buckman? For that is your role in this conversation. You listen.’ I wheezed a response. ‘I’m listening.’ ‘Excellent. Amber seems to be fond of you. Perhaps she has been fond of you for years.’ He paused. I nodded. ‘Friends since childhood.’ The pressure eased. ‘Friends?’ ‘Since we— since I was a boy.’ He made a deep sound that I felt all through my body. Then he said, ‘Understand this. We share a face, though mine is more youthful and handsomer. I asked her to carve me a face she could love. She gave me yours. But it was “could” love, not “did” love. Remember that. She loves
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