“Do you wish you’d said no?” I murmured. I didn’t even need to specify what I was talking about. He took a long time to respond. “I cursed myself for that answer,” he said at last, “for a long, long time. Death would have been better than those next seventy years. But... maybe there’s something to be said for the years that came after that.” His eyes flicked to me, crinkling slightly with an almost-smile. “Maybe even the years that come after this one.”
