Silence pressed in around them, thick enough to hear her own heartbeat. At first, she thought she had imagined it but then he spoke again, his voice cutting cold through the stillness.

“I asked you something.”

So she hadn’t misheard. He had really asked her if she liked Leone. Of all things, why that? Was this still about the time Leone had plucked something from her hair?

Leone was a good man one of the few who treated her with kindness. They were both human, both yearning for ...