That had been the wrong question, he realized as soon as he said it. He could see it on her face. He'd only meant to say something to keep her here while he figured out how to ask about what he really wanted to know, which was why she was reacting this way. A mundane question that neither of them cared about would have been best... but there weren't many questions left between them that weren't loaded in one way or another, and even his attempts at banal conversation earlier had apparently only made things worse.

"Wait, R— that wasn't what I meant to say," he said, flustered. He took a step to follow her, then thought better of it and stopped. "I'm sorry, I — I'm sorry."

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