"Two things," she said, very close to my ear. "First…. explain to me how she knows that word. Second!" a pause, "why is she coming with us. Right now. In clear terms."
She let go of my collar and stepped back, arms crossing again immediately, the pout settling in somewhere around her mouth that she clearly wasn't doing on purpose but was doing anyway.
The combination of the frown and the pout was— it was something. I was not going to say what it was out loud.
"It's complicated," I said.
Her eyes went narrow. "So we're keeping secrets now, Hon."
"I'm not keeping a secret."
"Then tell me—"
I reached out and took both her hands before she could get the next sentence fully assembled, my fingers pressing over hers, and she made a small startled sound— barely audible, quickly controlled— and went still.
Not fighting it.
Just still, looking up at me with the frown reconfiguring itself into something with more confusion in it and less anger.
