"What do you want from me now?"
Jesse blinked.
Of all the things she had expected him to say, the question had never been among them.
She had spent years wanting an answer from him. On sleepless nights, she had imagined tearing one out with her hands. She had pictured his excuses, his remorse, even the possibility that he would look at her with nothing at all.
She had never seriously considered what she would ask for once the answer was hers.
Yet the question suited him.
Years ago, when she had begun lingering after drills, following him from the training ground with one question swallowed behind another, Lucavion had endured it for three evenings. On the fourth, he had stopped beside the supply tent and turned.
"What do you want?"
He had said it without irritation, and without any attempt to spare her embarrassment. She had wanted him to offer so she would not have to ask.
He had made her say it.
"Teach me."
"Then ask next time."
