Singularity of Absolution

He’s gotten thinner, she thinks. There are dark circles beneath his eyes and even though he’s dressed like a civilian there’s a rigid wariness in his bearing that marks him out as anything but. And then there’s the broad slash, puckered at the edges, that runs across his nose and cheek. The scar she gave him robs his face of the softness lent by his mother’s eyes and his full mouth.

It’s a dangerous face, the face of a monster.