James was stunned into silence. Geoffrey—loving and considerate? The world must be coming to an end. He would have laughed if he wasn’t so sad. Finally, he asked, “Is there no other way?”
Geoffrey shook his head. “I’m so very sorry, James.”
Olivia covered her eyes with her hands, and her shoulders shuddered with her sobs. She sobbed the way James wished he could have but he was numb suddenly, unable to feel anything. Someone might have staked him right then and he wouldn’t have known the difference and kept going as though nothing had happened until he disintegrated into a splat of blood on the floor. When Olivia’s tremors slowed enough so she could gather her voice and speak, she said, “I think Geoffrey is right, James. It breaks my heart to say it, but I don’t see a way around it. You
