“You half crushed me,” I started to say, smiling, and then I saw the pallor on Lyonya’s broad, handsome face. Saw the red wetness soaking his right shoulder, saw that something was wrong—terribly, horrendously wrong—with his right arm hanging limp inside its sleeve. Then my entire rib cage felt like it was collapsing on itself as I rose and caught sight of the red ruin of my lover’s back. Splinter wounds, driving deep through tunic and undershirt to the flesh below as he wrapped his body around me, to protect me. “Listen to that brass section,” he said, trying to smile, and then he toppled
...more
