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"Paperworkgood word It’s the only thing that separates you fro but a mistress with paperwork At least he loved you He never even gave a dah He did He was in love with Kingsley, but he never wanted anything bad to happen to you He never wanted to hurt you"
"But I knohat he is now Hi to hurt me? That’s the final proof he didn’t care about ue with that The two people he loved the sley, were the two people Søren hurt the most
"I lost face because of him" Marie-Laure knelt down in front of Nora "It’s a fine funny phrase--‘lost face’ It means to lose honor, to be humiliated A whole school of boys orshipped "
"He tried to care"
"Only for Kingsley’s sake And now, thirty years later, I have lost face again Look at rabbed Nora by the chin and held her with bruising strength "I’m old now I’m not beautiful anybeautiful" With those words Marie-Laure’s face contorted into true ugliness
"You’ll die," Nora said, and meant it "If you kill sley will hunt you down to the ends of the earth if you hurt one of his own"
"Maybe that’s what I want Maybe I don’t want to live anymore"
"Because you’re not as pretty as you hen you were twenty-one? Is that all you have? Is there nothing else to you but your beauty? You lose your beauty and what’s left?"
Marie-Laure let go of Nora’s chin and stood up
"Only my hate"
29
THE ROOK
Grace woke at dawn and knew soht Laila slept next to her in the bed Usually Grace woke up gradually, downing cup after cup of coffee or black tea before cos But now she vibrated like a live wire, alert and scared, although she didn’t knohy
She left Laila sleeping in the bed Footstepsshe’d heard footsteps in the hall lingering outside the half-open door That’s what had woken her She entered the hall and followed the sound of the footsteps, her heart gripped in a panic she couldn’t explain, not even to herself
At the top of the stairs she paused Søren stood at the front door in his black clerics and white collar So him in his collar She knewshe knew exactly why she’d woken and she knew exactly where he was going