[ He looks up. He hadn’t mentioned that to Athos, or to anyone else. It had been so strange, on the one hand – he’d have felt like he was claiming a fairytale was real. And then, on the other hand, events had superseded it. So many terrible things tend to happen here that by comparison, Elena biting his wrist for a minute or two hadn’t seemed that important.

Except that it had been, and he knows it, and that’s an excuse. So he holds up his wrist and pulls back his sleeve, to show Athos two tiny, healed marks there. ]

I offered. She was hurt, when she was dropped into the avalanche. Her leg was broken, badly. If she’d been human she would have lost it. It started to heal before my eyes, but not fully, because she was hungry. So I helped her.

[ He drops his hand again. ]

I couldn’t just leave her like that. She’s my friend. It didn’t seem like a lot to give.