“I said, ‘If the birds had such kinship that when one of them died, so did the other one, then what did the second firebird lose? Is there a third thing in this world, at least as powerful as Life and Death?’ ” Smithy sighed and rolled his eyes. “I know where this one’s going.” Mara paid no attention to him. She waved at him to hush. “What was it?”

Bonne fille comme toujours, elle ne veut pas qu’il souffre, et lui joue le type qui comprend, qui lui souhaite d’être heureuse, qui trouve aussi que c’est mieux comme ça, mais en réalité il souffre, d’une souffrance qui le prend par surprise et le ravage. Il pensait la quitter, pas le contraire. Sans l’aimer lui-même, il était sûr qu’elle l’aimait

The thought occurred to Thomas that it might have been preferable to lose her to water than to anger: then he might have mourned the girl who’d loved him, and not been subject to withdrawal of that love. Then God forgive me, he thought, and it would have to make do for a prayer.

The problem, she’s starting to understand, is that a man will never let you fall completely into hell. He will scoop you up right before you drop the final inch so that you cannot blame him for sending you there. He keeps you in a dinerlike purgatory instead, waiting and hoping and taking orders. He