invisiblecities1972:

She whispered—“Don’t tell him I was weak.” / “He’s going to know, Hect. You’re killing each other.” / “It’s our choice.” / “He’s going to ask.” / “Do what you’re good at,” said Camilla. “Lie.” / “Hect, you’re not listening. It’s killing him too—” / “It was good,” said Camilla, and her eyes closed. “It was good. We were happy.”ALT
Pause. “Love and freedom don’t coexist, Warden.” / Clack. “This is all there is to love? Simply by being in your life, I have added indelibly to its weight?” / Pause. “Yes.” / Clack. “Camilla, I mean it.” / Pause. “I meant it too. You used to say it to me.” / “We are one flesh.” Clack. / “I am your end.”ALT
The body said, “I died, and you carried me. I gambled, and you covered my bet. You kept the faith, and were the instrument of both my vengeance and my grace. And now I have fought through time, and the River, and Ianthe the First—fought and bested Ianthe the First, and I hope I never fight her ever again … Will you not look at me now, Cam, and know me?” / Camilla raised her chin. She looked at the dead face. She said quietly— / “Yes, Warden, I will always know you.”ALT
Camilla shivered all over. Then she was at rest; she relaxed her head—the lines of her neck drooped like a flower—she raised it again. / “Palamedes, yes,” she said. “My whole life, yes. Yes, forever, yes. Life is too short and love is too long.” / He demanded: “Tell me how to do it, and I’ll do it.” / Camilla said, “Go loud.”ALT
and she said to the window, “Here’s to Camilla Hect, yet another of devotion’s casualties,” and knocked back the glass.ALT

they ruined my life