I held her as she died.
We sat in the field, her head in my lap, her breathing shallow and then, finally, not at all.
"She's gone" River whispered, the tears streaming down her face mirroring my own. She lifted Inara's still-warm hand to her lips and kissed it reverently, a last farewell, then got to her feet and drifted back to the ship, leaving me my privacy.
I gathered her wasted body into my arms and sobbed into her hair. How could this happen?