No, no, he – he wasn’t getting it. Concern turned to worry as Malachi noticed the shift in the doctor’s demeanor, and tension held his limbs still, pulled tight like a string ready to snap.

He had meant what he’d said, of course he had. He hadn’t said a word he hadn’t meant since… well, since he’d given him a false name, and that was it, wasn’t it?

Malachi was silent for a long moment.

“No,” he insisted, quieter now. “I’ve meant everything I’ve said.”

His teeth worried at the inside of his lip, already bitten and bloody, as he considered his next words.

“I don’t want them to send us to workhouses, or prison, or God knows where else.”

I wouldn’t even get to see you, he didn’t add. Suddenly it felt too familiar, too sentimental.

“Is that what you want?”