"I wouldn't leave you," she blurts immediately, without thinking. How silly. There she was, thinking of all the ways she's been ill-used, and still she casts herself the noble statue, sedentary at his side.

Her anger has always been a pithy thing compared to her devotion.

With the benefit of time (a moment, two) to think, she adds, "unless it was the only way to uphold... you."