“He looks in my eyes in a pitying sort of way. “It’s such a shame,” he says, “that we couldn’t have met under different circumstances. You deserve to be worshipped. I would have adored you, Lilly, if you were anyone else.” He slides the knife against my skin, back and forth over my cheek like a shaving blade. “But, alas. You know how it is. Sometimes, life gets in the way.”