"But I did. Same grift, different dressing. Shoulda gone hard off the bat and never let up, but I sat down at Tiamat's table and lost fucking Find The Lady." A much smaller sip of her drink. "...You're not weak, Ash. And what's 'weak' to Valdis anyway? It's like asking if the Arctic is too cold for a bonfire; everything is already cold from a bonfire's perspective. If our love was only into cold-blooded killers she'd be dating me & Siffleur, not you, Max, and me."

"Tell you what though, longer you go without telling her what you're afraid of the more annoying it's gonna be. Take it from the queen of that clown shit."