"I didn't mean it like that!" She jumps and pulls away from Verity just a little bit. The arm may still be around her, but it's in a precarious spot. "At least I... I don't think..." Now she feels like a fool for freaking out. This is what she's supposed to be working on and she can't even hang on to that for more than a few minutes before it dissipates. She covers her face with her hands to hide the tears of frustration.

"I'm sorry. It's just... Viatorus is one of the few people who has been consistently kind to me since I arrived. If I have to leave him alone completely I will, but... I owe him an apology. A real apology. I want to give him the chance to tell me to fuck off if that's what he wants. I owe him the chance to make that decision."

Any other day, this might have been her way of manipulating Verity into backing down, but not today. She means every word she says. She believes in letting people make their own decisions, for better or for worse. And given what she knows about his family, she thinks he deserves that chance more than most people. If he can't make any other decisions for himself, she wants him to give him the chance to make this one.