It is this kindness of his that unsettles me most. I can dodge a blow or block a knife. I am impervious to poison and know a dozen ways to escape a chokehold or garrote wire. But kindness? I do not know how to defend against that.

The maids in my village talked of falling in love with a man at first sight. That has always seemed naught but foolishness to me. Until I enter Sister Serafina's workshop. It is unlike anything I have ever seen, full of strange sights and smells, and I tumble headlong into love.

It is this kindness of his that unsettles me most. I can dodge a blow or block a knife. I am impervious to poison and know a dozen ways to escape a chokehold or garrote wire. But kindness? I do not know how to defend against that.

Jewels can be replaced, cousin. Independence, once lost, cannot.

... then he offers me his arm. As I take it, I wonder what folly decreed that women cannot walk unassisted.

It takes a surprising amount of courage to place one's hand into an unseen area when your mind is thinking about vermin.

I stare at him coldly. "I do not care for needlework." I pause. "Unless it involves the base of the skull.