POV: Olivia

You know that moment in every long war when the person who has been trying to remain humane finally reaches the edge of that effort and looks over it and makes a decision about what they are willing to do from here?

I watched Dominic reach that moment at three in the morning in a hospital room that smelled of antiseptic and the particular staleness of recycled air, sitting in the chair beside my bed with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped and his eyes on the middle distance, and I did not say anything because I recognised what I was watching and I understood...