For a collection of moments, I found that I was baffled, dumb-struck by what she had just done. If I had to look back on my life, I do not recall anyone ever having the nerve or the courage to treat me in the way that she—this human girl—had just treated me. It had been the very last thing that I had expected from her, but it was a reaction that I could hold against her, for now that I saw the consequences of my actions, I was starting to think that perhaps it would have been wiser for me to speak to her alone, to speak to her without any input from Alaric.
I had made a grave mistake in inviting Alaric over for dinner, in fooling myself into believing that perhaps he would be able to set aside the differences of our past and help me, help me bring the one person he cared about more than
