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“You need to start trusting me with things like this. We could have had hired hands on the property. We could have prevented this.”

“I’m… not used to putting my trust in others.”

I look pointedly at my arm. “When the consequences affect more than just yourself, you might want to consider it.”

He winces. “Noted.”

Eryx returns his attention to my arm, pulling a little too tightly on the next stitch.

“At the risk of seeming pathetic, thisreallyhurts. Could you try to be gentle? Not all of us have supernatural healing.”

“You’re not pathetic. This is a very deep cut. You’re going to have an impressive scar.”

A scar? “I’ve never had a scar before.”

“Stop frowning. Scars are good. They mean you survived.”

“I only survived because of you.” I was helpless. Entirely outnumbered with nothing but my nightclothes on for protection. I cannot remember a time when I’d felt such terror.

“No human person could have taken on so many barehanded.”

“Then today, I am grateful you are not entirely human.”

I bite back a sob at yet another stab of the needle, and Eryx hardens his jaw. “Last one.” He ties off the stitch, spreads some sort of soothing ointment over the line of sewed flesh, and begins wrapping the wound.

Eryx returns to the washroom to clean himself up again. On his way to the bedroom door, he says, “Rest up, Duchess. Your body needs to heal.”

I’m already throwing the covers off me. “I will do no such thing. I need to check on Damasus. My room has been destroyed. It’ll need to be cleaned. Someone will need to speak with the constabulary when they arrive. I’ll need to order new furniture.”

“It’s always the bloody furniture with you.”

“If every little thing about me irritates you, you can always leave.”

“Every little thing about you does not irritate me.”

“All evidence to the contrary.” I try to step around him, but he steps with me, continuing to block my path.

“Do you respect me?” he asks suddenly.

“What?”

“Do you hate me so much because you recognize on some level that we’re equals?”

My stomach falls at the words. Hewasat book club listening in!

“We could never be equals. Not when you hold all the power,” I say.

“And if I didn’t?”

“Then I’d hardly have cause to hate you, now, would I?”

His eyes flash amber, and I try to parse what I’ve said to upset him. I can’t think of anything, so I fire back, “Do you see me as an equal?”

“I respect you.”

“But you don’t see me as an equal?”

“I see you as…” He trails off, but his eyes never leave mine.