「Theyll forbid it! Theyll seal it off and exunicate anyone who tries!」
「Too many people will want to. They wont be able to prevent them. This will mean the end of the Church, Marisa, the end of the Magisterium, the end of all those turies of darkness! Look at that light up there: thats the sun of another world! Feel the warmth of it on your skin, now!」
「They are strohan anyone, Asriel! You dont know—」
「I dont know? I? No one in the world knows better than I how strong the Church is! But it isnt strong enough for this. The Dust will ge everything, anyway. Theres no stopping it now.」
「Is that what you wao choke us and kill us all with sin and darkness?」
「I wao break out, Marisa! And I have. Look, look at the palm trees waving on the shore! you feel that wind? A wind from another world! Feel it on your hair, on your face....」
Lord Asriel pushed back Mrs. Coulters hood and turned her head to the sky, running his hands through her hair. Lyra watched breathless, not daring to move a muscle.
The woman g to Lord Asriel as if she were dizzy, and shook her head, distressed.
「No—no—theyre ing, Asriel—they know where Ive gone-」
「Then e with me, away and out of this world!」
「I darent—」
「You? Dare not? Your child would e. Your child would dare anything, and shame her mother.」
「Then take her and wele. Shes more yours than mine, Asriel.」
「Not so. You took her in; you tried to mold her. You wanted her then.」
「She was too coarse, too stubborn. Id left it too late....But where is she now?
I followed her footsteps up....」
「You want her, still? Twice youve tried to hold her, and twice shes got away.
If I were her, Id run, and keep on running, soohan give you a third ce.」
His hands, still clasping her head, tensed suddenly and drew her toward him in a passionate kiss. Lyra thought it seemed more like cruelty than love, and looked at their daemons, to see a strange sight: the snow leopard tense, croug with her claws just pressing in the golden monkeys flesh, and the monkey relaxed, blissful, swooning on the snow.
Mrs. Coulter pulled fiercely back from the kiss and said, 「No, Asriel—my place is in this world, not that—」
「e with me!」 he said, urgent, powerful. 「e and work with me!」
「We couldnt work together, you and I.」
「No? You and I could take the universe to pieces and put it together again, Marisa! We could find the source of Dust and stifle it forever! And youd like to be part of that great work; dont lie to me about it. Lie about everything else, lie about the Oblation Board, lie about your lovers—yes, I know about Boreal, and I care nothing—lie about the Church, lie about the child, even, but dont lie about what you truly want....」
And their mouths were fasteogether with a powerful greed. Their daemons were playing fiercely; the snow leopard rolled over on her back, and the monkey raked his claws in the soft fur of her neck, and she growled a deep rumble of pleasure.
「If I dont e, youll try aroy me,」 said Mrs. Coulter, breaking away.
「Why should I want to destroy you?」 he said, laughing, with the light of the other world shining around his head. 「e with me, work with me, and Ill care whether you live or die. Stay here, and you lose my i at once. Dont flatter yourself that Id give you a seds thought. Now stay and work your mischief in this world, or e with me.」
Mrs. Coulter hesitated; her eyes clo