A Thousand Splendid Suns

unnatural thing. And yet she had to wonder, as she lay on the floor, her sweaty hands
poised to guide the spoke, if indeed she could ever love Rasheed's child as she had Tariq's.
In the end, Laila couldn't do it.
It wasn't the fear of bleeding to death that made her drop the spoke, or even the idea that
the act was damnable which she suspected it was. Laila dropped the spoke because she
could not accept what the Mujahideen readily had: that sometimes in war innocent life had
to be taken. Her war was against Rasheed. The baby was blameless. And there had been
enough killing already. Laila had seen enough killing of innocents caught in the cross fire
of enemies.