Spiderlight

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

“To bring you back from the jaws of death, Lief? Perhaps ten years of my life. And more: when I look on the world, now, something is gone from it, some joy in its colors and wonders that was burned from me when I caught your life and hauled it from the brink. I will not savor tastes as much as I once did. Some sounds or sights or thoughts that once made me smile will cease to connect with my soul in the same way, and leave me cold. If I had it in me to love, to truly love, then perhaps that is blunted too. In every way, in some small measure, I am lessened.”

“. . . ,” she managed, which he took as encouragement.