"Yes," Burr whispers, and he had dreamed of the duel as well, from that first night, as the streets called for his blood. Laudanum had helped. A few drops before bed, then a few more. "Life is a game of losing."

And he is terrified, yet--

Lonely. He is so lonely.

"But losing while having had you sounds better than losing you through fear." Yet even now there is some part of him held back, numbed. He cannot love the same way ever again. Not since the Theodosias. Some part of him, laying at the bottom of an ocean. Is it the same with Hamilton, after Philip? It must be.