There was much said by her and then much said by him. It was a battle of words, but not the questions he intended. He had told her there'd be no winner there, but one of the two had perhaps made some gains, regardless. Myrken seduced, especially once such as her, especially one who felt herself far beyond such things. It hadn't have time to do so, and there wasn't time remaining. That frustrated him as much as anything else. Of course she couldn't just believe him about how this was going to go, but it would have been nice. It would have saved them all pain. That wasn't giving up. It was attempting to avoid the mistakes of the past, but the attempt had no substance and he well knew it.
There was pain in his eyes, but so much else. She couldn't swallow him up with youthful exuberance. He had once possessed that and his eyes were deep wells with that dangerous, unstable spark beneath them. She was welcome to gaze though. "I'm too brittle to bend, Egris. Losing her was terrible. Our minds were bound together through her gift. I felt the moment of her death. I feel it now no matter what i remember. I feel it, in nightmares and daydreams. A flash of black. Between that and a month of starvation I've been left rather disagreeable, to you and yours especially. Know this. Turning too close an eye to Myrken means that Myrken looks back at you. We're better off ignored." She wouldn't believe that either.
She rose, she went to draw and he rose as well. They'd do this in the middle of the night in his living room. This was a girl who wanted all of her toys in the immediate. But then, she had waited for so long. He kept on talking, even as he walked towards the door, towards an umbrella stand which contain no parasols but instead a rapier. "So you've not seen me since I've been keeping my head down, have been running my government without the usual flair. Buying time for it and myself. I take complaints. I dole out justice. I see to the most mundane elements of government, and so long as I do, there are no mistakes to be made. You seem rather poor with patience, Egris."