I'll have given enough when I cease to exist. [ There's a hard edge to her voice, a conviction she won't easily be swayed to set aside. Maybe it was because she was too overprotective of them all. Or maybe it was because relenting — even for a moment, even merely wishing for rest — meant all her sacrifices and pain were for nothing. Utterly meaningless.

Perhaps it was both.

Still, Clea hadn't come here to argue with him. She moved, restless, to stand beside the well, peering down at it without seeing whatever was reflected back up at her. ] I will do whatever is necessary for us. [ It was spoken so quietly, but there was iron threaded through her voice. Always forged in steel. ]