Alasdair knew that voice would reverberate in her dreams and nightmares forever. Shkei, bleeding, broken, begging…and her with a knife near to hand. The trainer had left them alone, because he didn’t believe she would ever do this. He had made her do the work of hurting Shkei this time. He had assured her it would be worse if he did it, and so she had… The memory, the thoughts, made her dry-heave. And Shkei just said, “Please.” He had given her a weapon. I can’t. But she also couldn’t even say the words aloud, because the light was already gone from his eyes. In his mind, he had given himself to the next world already; he did not want to live, not in this place, where he would only be used to hurt others. He had been so good to her… She heard Master Gabriel finishing his conversation. He would be back in the room in moments. She only had another second. “Please.” She held him close, and balled one hand in his hair to keep him still. She didn’t trust herself to hit the heart with one blow, and wanted to make sure the end was quick, so she held the knife in a tight fist and drew it across his throat as firmly as she could.
