He gestured toward the chair across from his desk with an almost hospitable sweep of his hand.
"So why don't we have a proper conversation now? Why don't we sit down like two intelligent people and let me tell you clearly and specifically what it is that I want? Because I think once you hear it, you will find that what I am asking for is not entirely unreasonable given everything that is on the table."
The invitation snapped Cora back into herself with something close to an electric shock.
Whatever fragile, stunned quiet had been holding her in place for the past several minutes shattered completely, and the anger that rushed in to replace it was cleaner and sharper and more focused than the anger she had arrived with - because this anger had been forged in the specific furnace of what she had just been made to feel, and it burned accordingly.
She looked at Lovi with eyes that were absolutely blazing.
