"No clinic," Liliana said, shaking her head quickly. And then holding it as the room spun. "I don't know them, they're strangers and I--"

How to explain when it all lay so close to some of the most closely guarded of her secrets, those parts of her soul that had long since grown calloused and the idea of exposing them to light and air for the first time in ages hurt nearly as much as the rest of her.

"I'll be okay. I just...Marc didn't think I should be alone." Yes. Marc didn't.