She could say Talia wasn’t evil all she liked. It wouldn’t erase Cassidy’s memory of the woman sinking her fingers into Airy’s chest. And, since Airy was mentioning them — those things she’d said. Her master hadn’t put those words in her mouth, had he?

The first man she truly falls in love with. Out of everything, that was the part that made Cassidy feel like his insides were going to start tying themselves in knots. The parts about him, his pretending to be a man or whatever — none of that was anything he hadn’t felt before, in his more self-loathing moments. The thought that he really was her first, that she was betting her heart on him...

“You don’t?” he asked in a quiet voice as he looked back down at her. He made her feel that safe? She actually loved him that much?

He really was the biggest wanker in the entire world.