He might as well as hit her, it would have been less painful. The useless baubles she's holding fall out of her fingers, hitting the floor with a clatter, her black eyes going wide. Then shook her head, every bit of her denying it, her whole body through. It couldn't be true, it shouldn't be true. Shaking her head, back and forth as she tried to get air back in her lungs.

"No, no." Not Roland, not Roland. "But he and Lilith... They were going to be happy. I wanted them to be happy. It was going to be okay if they could -"