CASSIAN
The tears were pouring down my nose, dripping onto his pale cheeks. "I have the money, Julian. I have the keys to the building in the safe. We were almost out of the city. We were so close to the edge of it. Julian, please. I'm so sorry. I should have been there when they kicked the door in. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Julian's face was perfectly still against mine. The small green jade pendant he always wore hung loose against his collarbone, covered in the same dark red that was now on my hands, my clothes, and my face. I didn't notice it. I didn't care about the mess.
I began to rub his fingers between my palms, frantically chafing his skin back and forth to bring the warmth back into them. It was the completely irrational, frantic act of a man whose mind has completely fractured, a man whose brain refuses to accept what his hands have known for five minutes.
