[He hugs her like he's trying to wrap his body around her, armor her up with his muscle and bone. He presses his cheek to hers, gets her scent, feels her breathe and her heart beating. He doesn't say any of it, how he was afraid he'd lost her where she couldn't be gotten back, that somehow she'd been consumed like the other barge, something -- that she was gone in a way that left no room for her to be brilliant, a schemer, a survivor .]
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