Nolan looked at her for a moment, unmoving, then turned sharply away to pace the room. “I can’t run away from what I’ve done,” he said over his shoulder. “A great thing—a monstrous thing—however it’s judged, I did it, and I would do it again, and so I must stand by my actions. Leaving the city would not change that. I cannot hide away for the rest of my life. I don’t want to.”

She watched him closely. “Not the rest of your life. A few months—a year—however long it takes for the maelstrom here to die down. Soon enough, you’ll be needed back at the Biolab, haven’t you realized that? Do you know what demons Cerisa Daylen has unleashed? Your friend Melina said that to the reporters yesterday. Now that we know how to kill each other with disease, what other powerful viruses might we invent? What other kind of invisible wars might we learn to wage on each other? On the albinos? On foreign nations? We have entered a new era. And you are one of the few people who understands how to navigate through its mazes. They’ll realize that soon enough. And then you’ll have to return. But for now—”

He stopped striding around the room and passed one hand over his face. He looked suddenly exhausted. “For now,” he said quietly, “I would so much like a place to rest. A place to sort out my thoughts. A place to recover.”

“Munetrun,” she said. “We can be there tomorrow night.”

“We?” he repeated. “You would come with me?”

“You wouldn’t find it on your own.”

“And then? Would you leave, or would you stay with me there?”

Kit looked at the floor, a neutral collage of tiles in an uninspired pattern. “What does Analeesa think of what you’ve done?” she asked in a low voice.

“I have not spoken to her since shortly after I returned from Geldricht. When I released her from our engagement and told her I was not the man for her.”

“That must have been hard for her.”

“It was hard for me, too. But I could not in good faith pretend to love her when I love you instead.”

Kit looked up. “Is that still true?” she whispered.

“What could have changed me?” he demanded.

“Why does anyone change?” she countered. “Once you loved Leesa, too.”