Marius had not expected any other response than concession, and it was perhaps because of it that he had found himself abruptly submerged in guilt. It was a brief and fleeting feeling, however; it did not occur to him that Joly would be thinking of his cheerful mistress, back in Paris, but he had convinced himself a half-second later that no one could deny that out of all of them, Cosette was the worthiest of being protected. Of winning the games so she could never experience such cruel hardships again.

He made a move to stand, but he had barely even lifted himself an inch above ground when a sudden wave of dizziness took over him. He collapsed back onto the ground, his shoulder scraping against the wall, which he leaned on to steady himself. He raised his tired eyes to Joly, remaining silent for a few seconds as his vision focused and his ragged breathing returned to normal.

When it finally did, his eyes drifted to a spot behind his companion. "Our supplies are diminishing at a hurried pace." He nodded at the small hill of food and bottled water behind them, to illustrate the point. "To begin with, we must tend to that."