“Do you think they know what it really means to love?” his projection-self mused aloud to him. “That it isn’t the simple joy of fondness, I mean. In fact it’s violent, destructive. It means to cut the heart out of your chest and give it to someone else.” He slid a sidelong glance to Callum, who didn’t look up. “To care at all about anyone or anything means inevitably to suffer. After all, what is compassion?” Callum’s projection posed, pausing for the punch line. As if it were a joke, which it was, in some capacity. “To feel the feelings of someone else is to exhaust yourself with double the
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