“He isn’t like me,” Lambert says, like it’s an obvious answer to Yuya’s question. “I’m already a monster.”

Even as he says that, his agitation seems to calm, like saying something like that out loud was enough to settle it more firmly in his mind.

“Losing me won’t change who he is.” And there’s both a wistfulness and pride in the way he says that — not that he’s even sure what he means by that himself.