Her answer surprises him—in an abstract way, lapping at the edges of his consciousness. “Wouldn't have mattered,” he says, toneless. His speech measured, automatic as breathing. “I can't. Couldn't do it in the cell, couldn't do it before. Maybe he knew, somehow. Why he did everything but.”

Which makes him laughably egotistical, thinking he could inflict suffering on par with existence itself. But makes Rust a coward down to his bones.