“Do not do that.”
“Do what?”
“Invent humanity where there is none.”
“I am not trying to make you soft.” Her mouth curved. “I like you exactly as you are, although you are considerably easier to tolerate when you stop scowling.”
“I am always scowling.”
“I know. It is one of your more dependable qualities.”
A faint sound escaped him before he could prevent it.
Leena’s smile widened.
“Was that a laugh?”
“No.”
“It sounded suspiciously like one.”
“It was contempt.”
“Of course.”
She stepped back and reclaimed her tea.
“You are the only person who gets away with this.”
“I know. Somebody has to annoy you.”
Leena turned toward the stronghold.
Rhen stopped her before she had taken two steps.
“You should not be outside alone at night.”
She looked back.
“You are outside.”
“I am not prey.”
“And you believe I am?”
His silence answered.
Leena smiled with infuriating certainty.
“I’ll be fine. I have you.”
The memory released him.
Rhen stood alone beside the rear garden with her final words cutting more deeply than the cold.
Leena had believed in a version of him that had never existed for anyone else. She had been the single creature whose faith he had neither corrected successfully nor destroyed.
Now she was gone.
