“You—you did.” Her body crumpled. Priya caught her, lowering her down gently. What a mockery it was, that gentleness. “You won’t die,” Priya sobbed, miserable tears falling down her cheeks. “You won’t die. I didn’t cut out your heart. I didn’t. I only, I only…” Her words dissolved. There was a white-edged silence, as Malini bled, and Priya scrubbed tears from her own eyes. “It has to be enough,” whispered Priya, “that I’ve lost you. That we’re severed from one another. It has to be enough.” Priya touched her own hand over her own heart. “It has to be,” she said. And maybe it was. The fire
...more
