"What's done is so cruel. What ifs have the potential to be kind."

Lust shook her head, trying to shake away the things preying at her mind.

"Not in any realistic envisioning, there was no hope once he'd caught my master's eye. I just wish I'd told him something kind, given him something real, been...good for him." She dropped her eyes.

"Perhaps I wouldn't be quite so miserable at it now."