He halts as well, her words pricking at an old pain he had thought buried deep. He had felt nothing for the wife he had taken as Solus; only their son, whose death had buried any glimmer of hope he had for mortalkind then.

"You forget that I am already dead," he says stiffly. Does he sound too cold? He can't muster up the will to soften it. "You and all the others have already outlived me. In that sense, should it not be I asking you whether or not you wish to continue this relationship? Even knowing that when this waking dream ends, I shall be but aether borne upon the currents of the Lifestream?"

He stares at the back of her head, feeling his throat constrict. "Even Hythlodaeus will be sent back without me. He knows our time is limited. You may as well tell me not to love at all."