"I will," she says, the words careful around the painful knot in her throat, but Natalia thinks, I am not the only one. James needs Steve as much as he needs her, needs to know that he's all right, and he isn't. She is sending Steve away still broken, and yet for all her talents, Natalia can't think of a thing to ease his pain.

"Don't torment yourself," she says, quiet. "You have both had quite enough of that already."