“Unbelievable," I said. "First you wanted to hide her away to keep you alive. Now you actually want her out in the world to use her compulsion for your own psycho plans.”

“I have a plan.”He groaned. “I was afraid of that.”“My plans are not terrible.”“Isabelle’s plans are terrible.” He pointed a finger at her. “Your plans are suicidal. At best.”She sat back, her arms crossed over her chest. “Do you want to hear it or not? You have to keep it a secret.”“I would pluck out my own eyes with a fork before I would give away your secrets,” Simon said, then looked anxious. “Wait a second. Do you think that’s likely to be required?”

“You must never check for a person's pulse using your thumb, or you'll feel your own heartbeat. Actually, I plan on doing that if I'm the one who's here when Ruth dies. I plan on giving her my heartbeat before I let her go.”

“- Excellent, excellent, your plan is working. -- What plan? - I ask.- The plan to make her wonder if you love her. Nothing makes a women more curios then the suspicion that she’s loved by someone. She’ll do anything to confirm it now, you see. She’ll go out of her way to find out if you really do. That’s just human nature. Who doesn’t want to be loved? -”

“I’m bonded to her, Lucan. I love her. If you want to keep me out of this, you’re going to have to kill me right here and now.”

“...Death," she said, as her hand dropped away, " is how you know you were alive in the first place.”