The Duke

2.5?3?

quote:

There in her garden, she’d used the moonlight to illuminate him, and she’d asked him if he was all right. Not like most posed the question, as though they’d queried a thousand people a thousand times. But as though she wanted the answer. Like it meant something to her.

Like he’d meant something to her.

And he’d wanted to tell her, hadn’t he? That he, in fact, resembled nothing close to all right. That he seethed one moment, and was completely numb the next. He wanted to confess that he hated the entire world. That he hated himself, most of all. That he remembered how to survive, but not at all how to live.

He’d wanted to give voice to his greatest fear, that he’d be this … this shadow of a man until he finally decided to end his own life. Because there were no fresh wonders left. Nothing to conquer. Nothing worth protecting. Nothing to fight for.

Nothing to live for.