How was she still capable of being offended when all he'd done was question her? It still was possible and brutal efficiency of I don't trust you made her flinch. It stung deep enough that the impulse to retaliate came just a moment too late as he continued. Whether this was meant to mollify or ruin her was under review.

"My judgment?" Her outrage at that forced interjection, but he wasn't finished making this worse. He'd thought of marriage before meeting her, not a surprise giving his place in her life, but his arbitrary list of 'wife' was egregious. "Of course that wouldn't make me happy. You've described a mistress - and a highly vapid one - and not a wife." Of course she'd entered this situation with her own definition of husbands and wives, the difference was she came with experience on the matter. "I want to be your wife, not a simpleton pet."

The 'moody child' look he gave her would have been amusing, and almost endearing, if the stakes were lower, but she very nearly rolled her eyes anyhow. She didn't bother to keep her hands from pressing into her temples as if she could massage away his insulting assessment like a headache.

"Emrys," She prayed for some new source of patience she didn't possess, "I have already been more a wife to you, in all but name, than that. Why would that change?"

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