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Sonder

Chapter Eleven: Taint

"Sister." Carver has hissed the word, moaned it, shouted it, seethed it, even – and he will never admit this – laughed it. But never has it been such a broken gasp of air as it is now. Never has it caught in his throat and threatened to stay there. Never has it been full of such need.

The taint spreads quickly and painfully beneath his flesh, hollowing him out. Hawke's hands are steady on his back and his shoulders.

"It's your choice," she whispers, grip fierce.

It always has been.

But it takes the Deep Roads for him to see it.