[ never has there been a time such as now that marta were desperate to be better at hiding her emotions. there's a measure of comfort in her curling into his arms, for sure, but there shame there too — in knowing how close she is to going back on her word, of her promise to him to hold onto that hope for the both of them. for all that hope is a familiar friend, freeing when it first visits, the longer it stays, the heavier the burden to bear.

and bending... well. how else to carry the weight but to bend?

but she knows his meaning. knows he only wishes to protect her as much as he can, with what little they all know of these orbs in the first place. the irony, of course, is that these words should come from kovacs specifically. the very same man who had agreed to lose more and more of himself the longer he remains.

though perhaps it's less irony and hypocrisy than it is begrudging wisdom. hindsight is 20/20 after all. ]

It was always going to be too good to be true, whatever the price. And I never expected fairness from something that would try to put a value on a life.

[ still... if somehow she could right that single wrong... should she? ]