Reclaiming the Empire

ier's people drove me to th

process, we exchanged

te strangers handling th

ments. "Have you both thought this through? You look like a good ma

ble impatiently. "Ca

d said no more, sta

orms, sig

badly I could bar

eart thousands of times and secretly

onally sever it f

toss the pen aside, lean back i

, but exhaustion and irritati

in these three years, he had ever

ed my lips and I sw

ate myself

ame my

ked up the pen, and wrote

roke, all my stren

he documents and pic

hing would tie us

ixedly at

by a hand that squeeze

him, truly

ished that love wi

tamp hovered

hone rang

e proved jarring

y. "What is it? Don'

e other end said changed

to shock to u

and fixed on me as if see

say?" His vo

r replied

, and the phone slipped from h

trength, his lips quiverin

unged forward like a madm

stamp mid-air, staring