Golden opens her mouth as though to deliver a stock answer of some kind, then closes it and glances between Bell and Juliet thoughtfully.

"I'd say it's like having my soul walk around outside my body," she says instead after a moment, "but given that Amariah exists, perhaps that's not the right comparison; Edward is like having my soul walk around outside my body in the sense that we can operate like extensions of each other and neither of us can function without the other's safety. Elspeth is more like..." She's stumped. "I stopped notebooking before she was conceived, let alone born; I know what it's like but I haven't put it into words."