"Madoc sent the Ghost-" you say, then stop and try again. "I thought that there was going to be an attempt on your life."

Cardan gazes at a rosebush with petals so black and glossy they look like patent leather. "It was terrifying," he says, "watching you fall. I mean, you're generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then I was furious. I am not sure I have ever been that angry before."

"Mortals are fragile," you say.

"Not you," he says in a way that sounds a little like a lament. "You never break."

Which is ridiculous, as hurt as you are. You feel like a constellation of wounds, held together with string and stubbornness. Still, you like hearing it. You like everything he's saying all too well.

That boy is your weakness.